Marina's TravelsThe Voyages & Discoveries of a Young Woman

Best Builders, Baddest Buildings – June 25, 2015

§ June 25th, 2015 § Filed under Spain, Spain - Barcelona § 5 Comments

*I acknowledge that the job descriptions of builders and architects differ, but for the sake of alliteration… 

The Melon District Marina Residencia is located near the 22@ District, near two main streets – Glories and Diagonal. The reason I mention this is because one of the first things that everyone on my study abroad trip noticed about Barcelona was a neighboring tower, about a 15 minute walk away from us, nicknamed “The Dildo” or “The Penis.” I didn’t make the phallic connection, but I recognized it as being similar to London’s Gherkin. In reality, this tower is named Torre Agbar and was designed by a famous architect named Nouvel between the years 1999 and 2004.

Today we were taken on a tour by our favorite visiting professor, Dr. Estevez. We walked around Barcelona’s 21st century district, where architects such as Chipperfield, Moneo, Bofill, Perrault, and Ferrater have all contributed to the city’s modern skyline. Though the buildings here have all been designed by such well-known names in the world of architecture, none of these buildings will go down in history as being groundbreaking or important. Some may even be considered failures. This is a story about Torre Agbar, Nouvel’s effervescent dream-turned-dildo.

This tower was made for the purpose of housing business having to do with Barcelona’s water supply. For this reason, the building is named Agbar – Agua Barcelona. Water was Nouvel’s first inspiration. He wanted the tower to look like a geyser, emerging from the waters of Barcelona. The red and blue colors of the facade were supposed to convey the feeling of the warm waters of this spout. His second inspiration was Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia and its iconic parabolic towers. Lastly, he was inspired by the unique rock formations of Montserrat. Let us see where he failed!

1. A good architect must be able to dream but also to be rational. The idea of a building emerging from a pool of water is quite grand breath-taking, but with the plot of land given to Nouvel for this building, it just wasn’t realistic. At first he had planned to place water at the base surrounding the building, but the minuscule moat proved to be more of a hassle than a jewel. Besides the fact that trash floated in its waters, the feature was just too small to serve any metaphoric purpose.

2. As an architect, Gaudi understood elegance and form. The towers of the Sagrada Familia are about the same height as Torre Agbar. However, the difference is that Gaudi’s towers are narrow, slim, and graceful, while Nouvel’s looks like a plump lump, almost bursting outside of its plot’s limits.

A sketch done by Gaudi at the beginning of the 20th century for the idea of a skyscraper in NYC. Notice that he pays attention to proportions.

3. If you get up close and personal with Nouvel’s creation, you can see that there are two facades – an interior and an exterior. The interior is made up of square windows and blue and red/orange screens. The construction is made with thick concrete. The outer facade covers this hermetic design with glass panels, tilted in towards the building at perhaps a 45 degree angle (this is my own estimate). Professor Estevez shook his head during the tour at this design – what does this serve? Nouvel wanted to create a soft, watery quality with the exterior facade, so what was the point of the interior one? Plus, because the exterior consists of angled glass, it is impossible to keep clean, going directly against the aesthetic of crystal-clean water that he wanted!

When Nouvel designed the Torre Agbar he had Barcelona’s landscape – water and mountains – and art history – Gaudi – in mind. He had a dream filled with metaphors and symbols. But, what he produced instead… was a dildo, void of any deeper meaning (in the eyes of tourists who don’t take a course on the Arts of Barcelona). I am very glad Professor Estevez took the time today to tell us about this building and many more in the 22@ District, an emerging area of the city!