Project I- Phase I

As a short summary for our 'monumental' semester project, we are basically to propose a new urban design for the Glories Square, the new urban center of the city of Barcelona, contained within four phases.
The first phase is an experiential analysis of eight different plazas within the city's urban fiber; every phase would be growing in scale in terms of our overall project perse. For the remaining three we will be working more in depth with the actual Glories Square, going from the design of one area, to one whole block, and finally a building.
For this specific phase, we were to work in pairs and analyze three of these plazas by means of an emotion, one element which persisted within the three. In our case (Billy and myself), we decided to focus in the idea of the threshold; a transition of emotions from one space to another, specifically the feeling of comfort vs discomfort.



The idea of threshold in this plaza can be stated as literal. In order to get into the space, one has to go through this enclosed 'hallway' that conects the plaza to La Rambla. The outer facades to certain extent delineate the entrance separating the outer cluster of people, shops, cars, and motorinos from the inner, more serene area.


For Sant Jaume, the threshold is viewed from another perspective. The plaza serves as a dorway to the city; from it one has access to the Barri Gotic and to the rest of La Eixample by means of la Calle Ferran, one of the city's most important streets. This is a space that unlike what most people think a plaza to be, it is more of a meeting or transition point... not a place for one to relax.


When at Plaza de la Palmera de Sant Marti, this whole idea completely changes its scale. There's a spatial transition from the surrounding neighborhoods into the plaza area as well as from within the plaza itself. Plaza de la Palmera is characterized by this sculptural wall that divides the space in two; an arid from an oasis-like playgroung area. Both areas are usually filled with people during the weekends which makes it comfortable to be within not minding the almost monumental scale of this separating element.

That was basically our version of the assignment, an attempt to relate completeley different spaces through one characteristic taking into account the different scales each were contained in.