From April 20 to 30, the second edition of the Model: Festival d'Arquitectures de Barcelona took place, debuting a new theme, Radical Empathy, and a new location, the surroundings of the new Parque de las Glorias. This year, managed by the Fundació Mies van der Rohe, the event turned the city into a laboratory of experimentation and dissemination of architectural and urban thought, providing an opportunity to rethink new models and new imaginations of the city.
During the 10 days of the festival, 5 temporary installations were presented as a tool to build a more sustainable, fraternal, and fair city. Among the proposals, we could find a breastfeeding area designed by Equal Saree, the roof of a parking lot transformed into a mushroom structure by Harrison Atelier, and a surface that provides information about the benefits and disadvantages of the city's air created by Daryan Knoblauch, among others. At the same time, a series of 4 digital architectures and augmented realities were added, incorporating new experiences and technologies.
The festival, which was born with the horizon of the UIA-Unesco World Capital of Architecture in Barcelona 2026, counts once again on the artistic direction of Eva Franch i Gilabert, along with the collaboration of a wide team of architects, curators, and more than 50 institutions and organizations of the city selected through an open call. Below, we present part of the agenda along with more details about the five temporary installations and four virtual experiences.
Permanentemente Temporal / KOSMOS y PARABASE
Location: Zona Gran Clariana de Glòries
"Is it necessary that, in order to build, we continue to extract new materials? What about the incredible amount of unused materials in our cities that could be transformed into resources? Can we build in an environmentally friendly way, reusing what we already have?", are some of the questions that the authors attempt to address with an installation from unused materials found in various warehouses and construction/demolition sites.
Mamífera / Equal Saree
Location: Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, 823
It demonstrates the importance of integrating a network of care places in the city, recognizing that breastfeeding is a fundamental moment in the development of life and still represents a challenge in the public space.
Superficie Salvaje / Harrison Atelier
Location: Ona Glòries parking roof
It proposes a reflection on urbanism from a perspective that harmonizes human welfare with that of other species in the city, through the transformation of a currently unused space: the roof of the Ona Glòries parking lot.
Aire Libre / Daryan Knoblauch
Location: DHUB Zone: Josep Antoni Coderch Square
The reflective surface of the installation will allow us to observe the imperceptible characteristics of the air, which will help us to visualize, evaluate and understand a natural resource that, due to the large amount of pollution produced by humans, is endangering the health of the general population.
Asamblea Nomádica / h3o Architects
Location: Mercat dels Encants de Barcelona
It will teach us to create more equitable and accessible spaces in urban environments that encourage communication between people, regardless of their background or social status. A meeting place where dialogue flows organically, inviting you to meet others and remain there.
4 Digital Experiences
City Suite IMS / Besler & Sons
An augmented reality application along with a supporting website, creates a new vision about the connection between buildings, materials, people, and the natural environment.
Protest Archive: Parallelisms and Peripheries / Farah Michel
A digital installation that enables the collection of personal experiences and memories of mobilizations, protests, and community activism, in order to build a virtual environment from first-person accounts.
Connected Ecologies / Mathilde Marengo y Iacopo Neri (IAAC)
Through a connected soundscape narrated in the first-person, we will be able to experience a view of the future from our current perspective.
Glòria al Castor / Victor Enrich
An augmented reality experience that places the Castor platform as a focal point in the heart of Parc de les Glòries, superimposing it on the subterranean stratigraphy of the Glòries infrastructures, as a visual analogy of the historical structures of the past.
From April 20 to 30, the Espai C of DHUB will also host the exhibition 73 Barcelones curated by the winners of the Premi Model, Noa Yarkoni, Mar Gené, and Tiffany B. Whittaker, where drawings of the city of Barcelona from different perspectives will be presented.
On April 22, at the Glòries Tower viewpoint, the second edition of Protocol Barcelona will be held, an event where architects and thinkers from around the world will make recommendations to build Protocol 2023, a joint document on the future of cities. Beatriz Colomina, Dongwoo Yim, Albert Ferré, Teresa Chissequere, and Elvira Dyangani Ose, among others, will attend.
On April 23, coinciding with Sant Jordi, the Mercat dels Encants will become the headquarters of the Fira del Llibre d'Arquitectura Model, a day with vermouth, debates, book presentations, and performances. On the same day, the Premi Model winners Oscar Guayabero and Daniele Porretta will present Les Utopies de Barcelona, a 6-stage route dedicated to utopian (and dystopian) visions of the city.
Check out the complete agenda with all the activities and our coverage of Model Festival.
