Hospital de Sant Pau- Modernist gem

Barcelona is not short of its own versions of Art Nouveau and Gothic style architecture which became known as Modernism in the late 19th century. The scale and extent of the Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau started in 1902 on the medieval site which has been in continuous use since 1401 is something to behold.

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Barcelona 22@ high tech district

Barcelona is only an hours drive from Girona and a visit to the exciting urban renewal project that is 22@ is easy to get to from the motorway. The first thing you notice is the cucumber building next to the Glories roundabout and along the Diagonal road there are now dozens of really interesting looking modern office buildings and housing projects which are being built to house some of the best of Spains high tech industry.
The Barcelona city council decided in 2001 to revitalise an old industrial and poor housing area called Poblenou using new urban planning codes to encourage replacing old factories and housing with modern facilities and some public buildings including university research centres and an international conference centre. Established businesses as well as start-ups in growth sectors like media, medical technology, energy research and IT were to form the core of this new environment complemented by parks and with the beach only a short walk away this is a great location. The new station for the high speed train is also being built in this area linking Madrid and Paris in a journey which will only take a few hours from Barcelona when it is finished.
As  with many publicly funded initiatives over the last few years some building speculation by landowners in the area is evident from the empty holes with fences surrounding them but my surprise was that quite a lot has been built already and even more are about to be completed.  With the economy here suffering at least as much as elsewhere, and some would argue more, it will be interesting to see if these new offices are occupied, especially by the start-ups and small businesses that were envisaged at the outset.
Meanwhile, it is a great place to walk around to see how an old and run down part of town gets a second chance, and hopefully the mix of resident, visitor and worker will blend into a really interesting and dynamic part of Barcelona.

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Modernist buildings Girona

Both of these buildings are very close to each other just behind the main rail/bus station in Girona. One is the offices of “El Punt” one of the local daily papers and the other houses the Architects association of Girona. Neither allows visits to the interior without previous arrangements but most of the interesting features are clearly visible from the outside anyway. The “Punxa” building (the green tower) was hit by lightning a couple years ago and much damage was suffered but has been fully restored since. The Punt building was completely renovated before it became the offices of the paper and combines modern offices within the structure created by the original architect, Rafael Masó. The original building was a flour mill and some locals still refer to it as the Farinera (flour mill). The influence of Gaudí is clearly seen in the wrought-iron work, the glazed tiles and the soft curviliniar shapes. There are other Modernist buildings all over Girona Province especially in Blanes, Palafrugell and Figueras.

Labels: Architecture, Arts, El Punt, Gaudí, Girona, Modernist, Rafael Masó