-
Architects: Antonio Puig, Josep Riu Architects, Lucho Marcial, Rafael Moneo
-
Photographs:Rafael Vargas
Text description provided by the architects. The Plaza Europa was constructed halfway between the El Prat Airport and Barcelona city, with the intention of it becoming a new point of reference for the whole metropolitan area. The floor plan well reflects the original intentions of the man who drew it, Alberto Viaplana, winner of a competition organised for this project. It cannot be overemphasised that the architect seems to have been more concerned with emphasising the value of the intersection of Joan Carles street and the Granvia de Hospitalet Avenue- in which the Feria de Muestras plays an important role- than in merely configuring an urban space in which notions of volume and space prevail. In the face of a possibly complex, turbulent layout; an abstract spread of clearly-identifiable and autonomous towers. The towers- the architectural element in question- intermix with ‘crescents’ and embrace without any break in continuity the aforementioned intersection without defining a clear and evident geometry. The result is an urban void in which the towers, perceived as independent, play their parts with no apparent relation to each other. One of these new towers is the new corporate headquarters of Puig who, intent on fitting in with Barcelona’s new urban image, have chosen Plaza Europa to erect their head office.
