Street Art, Graffiti & Public Sculptures

As I've mentioned before, Barcelona is a town full of art. Public sculptures reside in parks, beautiful graffiti murals are commissioned for metal storefront guards, and unwanted graffiti is splashed on almost every door and facade of old town. Enjoy this 'art' or not, I think it undeniably makes the city more interesting and edgy. Even the unwanted graffiti is cool in some cases. Sometimes I get lost in the maze like old town, but then I recognize some graffiti I saw before and figure out where I am...It is a sort of way finding system. It would be nice to see old town cleaned up one day, made to look more like it used to. But, it's not and its awesome just the way it is. Here is a collection of the may taggings, murals, and public sculptures found around BCN.

Doorways and Storefronts

This first artist is all over the city...I think that his work is commissioned because his murals look very professional and time consuming.

One of my favoritesOther Artists

Otros Lugares (Other Places)Somewhere there is an elevator to the metro under all that crapSome art near studio...I like the frogs

Statues - Sculptures

This statue is a very traditional piece during the day, and becomes a more dynamic and modern piece at night Cool Pieces that towers over the port
Beachfront SculpturesThis piece, 'The Fish', is at the Olympic Village (1992)...I think it's a Frank Ghery workI guess this isn't a sculpture in the text book sense...however I love how the angled glass gives you a reflection of the beach and the sea when you get close to its base...you can't tell unless you get really close to it. Cool sculptures at a park along the shore...looks like ships had been buried in the ground, sunken...very cool
The sky is reflected beautifully off this (remarkably ugly) modern building at the ForumThese space age buildings are sculptures in themselvesThe Forum isn't the most successful urban space, but this area near the water is very artistic...I love how the sidewalk curves into a retaining wall (mimicking a wave) and all the lamp posts look like they have been blown over in a hurricane

Project 2 - Site analysis and proposal...Glories Square

Well project 2 is over and its finally spring break! This was every one's first attempt at Urban Planning and we tackled it in 3 weeks and with the huge distraction of BCN buzzing outside our studio. Everyone worked in groups of 3 (there were 4 groups, our program is really small) and we all tackled the site with a different strategy

Our Final Project Boards

Our task was to come up with basic building footprints and massing (basic building shapes) for our very complicated site.

Jury pics

Presentation of our final model Before I explain our proposal any further, i should tell you about Glories square. Glories square is our site here in BCN. It is sort of a crossroads for the city in terms of transportation (3 large blvds cross here), district uses (post industrial areas, current industrial areas, and housing areas...new and old) and a place where different arts communities cross. Much of the area is in transition. New areas of development are emerging near our (now very dilapidated) site.
One thing that made our project extra difficult was the fact that our site was going to be altered greatly in the near future so it was hard to imagine the site as it would be.

Our site as it exists


Gran Via (the street were i live on the other side to town) and Diagonal meet at a horribly intrusive viaduct / parking garage that divides the city. Empty lots and graffiti covered walls surround the site. The viaduct is undeniably the cause of so much rot around the site.

The new configuration of the site is shown below. A lane from Gran Via and a lane from Diagonal are redirected to go underground. The area where we were given to design buildings for is highlighted below.


We decided to make the projects main focus be to become the city's arts center. When we were given the project, we were told that the goal was to create a new center for the city. Barcelona already has many established areas that can be considered a center or even, the center of Barcelona, so i decided that Glorie's square should become a center of BCN for a distinct niche. Upon further research, our team learned that this area is a crossroads for many different artists groups. Many artists have been moving into the old factories that now sit empty nearby, The Catalan National Music Theater is in another direction nearby along with the music school, and the graffiti covered walls in the other direction can be called a visual arts district. We decided that if we catered to the arts community with a "bohemian downtown" designed with coffee shops integrated into parks and 2 large art museums in the main park our area would be successful.

From here i looked at the nearby artist''s neighborhood of Poblenou to see what makes the area successful. The district is a short walk from our site. This area consists of an older, established neighborhood full of people and shops...and a newer area where hotels and high rise condos are emerging our of large office park like settings.

Below is a map of the area, showing pictures from the different areas This map shows the different uses for the buildings in the area. Orange represents retail, blue is for housing (light is low density, dark is high density) Yellow is for housing, and green is office space. Notice the mixed uses on the left side and the single uses on the right...(the left side was way more lively)

I attributed the sharp contrast i saw within the neighborhood to the building styles and scales. The more monumental buildings with single uses were not very active while the smaller buildings on the other side of the area created a more comfortable feel and became attractive areas to be in. From this study, I came up with a building typology that i think would work very well in our development. High rises are demanded, but low rise buildings give an area a more human scale. Instead of just plopping down high rise towers in empty plazas, I proposed that we fill the blocks with 3-6 story buildings with retail and housing, then place towers for hotels, offices, and condos in place of the central courtyard that usually sits in the middle. On the roof the the first setback, a roof garden would talk place of the courtyard. This way all objectives are achieved. High density, mixed uses, and human scale. I believe that this kind of development would create much street life and be a comfortable place for pedestrians.Here is a my first study model that i worked on. The dark material highlights the building site

Notice how my building foot prints take up most of the block.

The final building footprints. The central axis consists of a large park in the center and 2 parks flanking it. The top park has two museums (one for maybe graffiti arts and one for artists who live in BCN currently) and the bottom has two mirroring retail buildings for cafes and restaurants that would spill out into the park. The city's proposal was to have these 3 parks spaces empty. I thought that adding attractions in the 2 flanking parks would create a draw in those areas and make them successful. With out something to create interest in these ares, they would become dead as no one would cross the busy road that splits up the park space. Alleys were cut into the building masses at angles to connect the park to neighboring attractions and to create charming 'shopping alleys' (reminiscent of old town).
Here is our final model. This thing took forever, but we got it done.

The park space with the museums and the cafes.

The site looking down Gran Via toward the city

The site looking toward Gran via, close up

Is it really Valentine's Day??

So it's February 14th, but is it really Valentines Day? In Spain, I'd have to say, 'no.' It may be because here, everyday is like valentines day, (observe - people making out on street corners, in doorways, even on the couch next to me in Starbucks...akward...) Anyway, it's probably just being away from America and TV which both shove every holiday down your throat (to make $$$). I guess this lack of Valentines Day 'spirit' is even more apparent to me because I grew up where Valentine's Day is 'fabricated'...Kansas City is home to both the Headquarters of Hallmark and Russlestovers. However I don't even mind the lack of this holiday. I never cared for it much, it's a little depressing, and it's very fake. If you love someone, give them flowers or whatever on a random day...not some day that Hallmark tells you is the day.

So even though I just ripped this holiday apart...I'd like to wish Happy Valentines Day to my mom, and my two sisters!!! I miss you guys!

Seville - Kansas City "sister cities"

So I thought I would write a post that compares the architecture of Kansas City to Seville. I wrote a little about this in the Seville post (below), but Ill explain it again. In Kansas City there is a district of town called the "country club district." It was built in the 1920s as a suburban housing district. It's centerpiece was the "Plaza," one if the nations first suburban shopping districts. Today, the plaza is very urban (it's only 15 minutes away from downtown) and the country club district is considered an urban neighborhood (one of the classiest in the city). The houses of the district are all very well built and full of details. All kinds of different styles exist there, French, German, Spanish, English, and some American bungalow style houses too. The Plaza its self is modeled after Seville's old town. The plaza is a great example of how architecture can make a place successful. While the plaza started off a just another shopping district, it has become the most exclusive shopping district in the city, and one of the top in the nation. The way it was planned makes it an incredibly charming place to be...Ive been to almost every major city in the country and it's hard to think of a nicer shopping area. I think that a comparison of pictures from Seville and KC is the best way to show the similarities.

The Giralda tower in KC, then the one in Seville. I think it is kind of funny that in Spain this tower is part of a cathedral and in America it is attached to what is now the Cheesecake Factory.
Seville
The Light fixture in the plaza outside the cathedral has also been replicated in Kansas City. It is definantly a very cool design.

KCSeville The architecture of the Shops themselves aren't based on any particular buildings, just designed in the "Seville" style. Ill just show some pictures of the shops, then some pictures of buildings I saw that I suspect influenced their design.

KC

Seville

One thing that makes Kansas City's Plaza more unique than Seville is the way it is transformed at Christmas time. Every year the Plaza is lined with Christmas lights that accentuate every tower, window, and other architectural details. There is something like 80 miles of Christmas lights and they take literally months to install and remove.

So as it mentioned in the Seville post, at least Seville named a road after KC...even though its a pretty nasty road. One thing that Seville took from Kansas City was our statue, "the scout." This statue over looks our downtown from a huge park and pays homage to the Shawnee Indians that once occupied our city's area. Seville had a very scaled down version of the statue along the boulevard. It's so small in fact, that i almost missed it...but it caught my eye the second time I walked past it.The Scout, overlooking Downtown KCSeville's tiny version of the statue overlooking the ugly high rises of KC Ave.