RICHARD MEYER / BARRIO GOTHICO
Richard Meyer’s Museu d’ Art Contemporani de Barcelona (MACBA) museum is a HUGE building in Barcelona’s Barrio Gothico or historic district. Here in this district, it is not uncommon to find passageways between buildings of no more than four to five feet as is common in other European cities’ districts of similar age. So, when I came upon Meyer’s building on a map, I was surprised to see it was located here…if you looked at a Nolli (sp?) figure / ground plan of old European cities, you normally expect to see the object buildings—that is buildings that are free standing, very uncommon—as churches or maybe even train stations, but here in Barcelona, you find Richard Meyer’s museum, too along with the churches.
(Nolli Plan example above; the dark shapes are buildings, so you can easily make out streets and such)
For reference purposes only, it can be described as a Pompidou Museum diagram: at some point in time, there was an erasure or removal of buildings. An object building is inserted into the new site, but biased towards one side, as it never sits exactly in the middle to create an entry plaza. The Pompidou’s plaza is angled down towards the entrance; at the MACBA the plaza is flat. Adjacent to the plaza is the vertical circulation for the building. The Pompidou has its signature ribbon of escalators hung off the façade; the MACBA has a series of ramps just inside of the window wall. Behind the circulation are huge, flat gallery spaces. The Pompidou has basically uninterrupted (or can be depending on the exhibition) gallery spaces, while the MACBA has different proportions for different uses. As far as I could observe, most of the walls seem to be permanent and the changing exhibitions adopt accordingly.
However, one of the best qualities of the Pompidou is the fact that the building is higher than all of the surrounding buildings, so when you make it to the top floor and have lunch or dinner at Georges (if you haven’t you must must must), you have an amazing view of the city. Here, Meyer sticks his café with outdoor seating on the second level overlooking the plaza below. I am not sure if the Pompidou references are intentional or not as there is no mention of it in any literature I have read (I feel they are completely relevant, though), I was hoping for the roof top extravaganza, but was slightly disappointed to be perched just 15’ above grade…
Check it out and let me know if you feel the Pompidou vibe, too.
Next, I finally took a walk down the entire length of Las Ramblas. It is basically the heart of the Barrio Gothico and is an amazing public space in Barcelona. The street connects the Placa de Catalunya and Eixample district to the north with the Monument a Colom to the south. It works as a huge promenade defined by a wide public street with a continuous double alley of trees in the middle flanked by a single lane of vehicular traffic on each side with a normal sidewalk between the vehicle lane and the building edge. Here for the most part, the buildings maintain a constant datum down the length of the run. The center trees are fully mature and the foliage reaches to the upper portions of the buildings and maintain a constant canopy down the center promenade. As a result, there are multiple speeds of movement occurring along Las Ramblas. The sidewalks on either side work the same as in any city—at times extensions of the building into the public realm and the sense of movement here is quick and to the point. The central promenade diffuses the speed and becomes a slow, leisurely walking ground. Outdoor cafes, small shops, and street performers help to accomplish this feeling under the continuous protective canopy provided by the trees. The width of the Las Ramblas is just enough that you are aware there are other layers of movement, but the main emphasis is the central promenade. It is people watching at its best.
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