Mediacomplex 22@ Barcelona : Architecture Information

Mediacomplex 22@, Barcelona, Spain 2008 Patrick Genard and Carlos Ferrater European Copper in Architecture Awards - Shortlist 2009 Written by Patrick Genard y Asociados SLP Photos : Alejo Bagué The Mediacomplex project is born from the union between a city, the 22@ plan for the development of emergent technologies, and a company as engine within this sector. The project addresses a complex programme which integrates a variety of diverse elements. These include the many facets of the audiovisual world, the teaching of the University Pompeu Fabra, the production within the Factory of images, and the creation within the Tower, itself a display window upon Ave. Diagonal. Each of these elements occupies its place within the building autonomously, and still participates with the same whole. The building occupies a special place. The meeting point between the orthogonal grid of the ensanche and the Ave. Diagonal creates a new “New York-style” pedestrian square, generously opening up the audiovisual building to the city. In addition, the project positions itself over Ave. Diagonal as an entryway into the “peri Glories” zone which finds its counterpoint with the Agbar tour. Lastly, it takes advantage of the industrial history of the neighbourhood by incorporating the unfinished 19th C. factory of Cal Aranyo. From this integrated programme, keeping in mind the urban complexity of the site, two new buildings are born in synergy. Their polar characteristics enter a dialogue allowing the whole to become greater than the sum of its parts. A base, the Factory, static and horizontally treated, is aligned with the old existing Cal Aranyo factory as a natural continuation two centuries later. The Tower, vertically treated, dynamically expresses the change between urban alignments. The base, opaque and smooth, covered with a double-skinned metallic screen, provides subtle variations of permeability and perforations which softly filter the light. The Tower, transparent, expresses its deeply recessed structure with huge niches, creating chiaroscuro effects on the façade. Nevertheless, both share a common system of geometry and proportion, as with a metallic and chromatic treatment that achieves a unity of rich diversity. Specialist copper contractor - KME Main contractor - Sacyr SAV Mediacomplex 22@ Barcelona images / information from European Copper in Architecture Awards