Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona in the context of Sant Martí (district)

⭐ Core Definition: Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona

Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes (Catalan pronunciation: [ˈplasə ðə ləz ˈɣlɔɾiəs kətəˈlanəs]), (Spanish: Plaza de las Glorias Catalanas; both meaning "Catalan Glories Square") most often shortened to Glòries, is a large square in Barcelona, first designed by Ildefons Cerdà to serve as the city centre in his original urban plan (Pla Cerdà), but nowadays relegated to quite a secondary position. It is located in the Sant Martí district, bordering Eixample, at the junction of three of the city's most important thoroughfares: Avinguda Diagonal, Avinguda Meridiana and Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes.

For decades, its main purpose was to function as a roundabout of elevated highways. However, in the early 2000s, a revamping project for Glòries started, which aimed to give the square a new role in Barcelona and revitalize the northern districts of the city, under the name 22@. These plans supplement other large-scale plans in Sagrera and the Fòrum area. The first installment of this project was the construction of the Torre Agbar skyscraper.

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⭐ Core Definition: Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona
Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona in the context of L'Auditori
Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona in the context of 22@

Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona in the context of L'Auditori

L'Auditori (Catalan pronunciation: [ləwðiˈtɔɾi]) is a modern building of 42,000 square metres designed by the architect Rafael Moneo, opened on 22 March 1999, in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It is in the centre of the new pole of urban development of Plaça de les Glòries, which brings together the three widest and longest avenues in the city (Diagonal, Gran Via and Meridiana) near the old centre of the city, its ‘Avenue’, next to the National Theatre, Glòries junction, the opening of the Diagonal on to the sea, district 22@ and the Forum area.

The building combines sober external modernity with Sala 1 Pau Casals with 2,200 seats, Sala 2 Oriol Martorell with 600 seats and Sala 3 Tete Montoliu with 400 seats. In the central access atrium, a monumental cubic glass light has been built in the shape of an impluvium, decorated with sketched paintings by Pablo Palazuelo. The acoustics of the halls has been carefully studied within the project by the specialised engineer Higini Arau.

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Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, Barcelona in the context of 22@

22@ (read in Catalan: vint-i-dos arrova [ˌbintiˌðozəˈrɔβə]), also known as 22@Barcelona and Districte de la innovació (Innovation District) is the corporative name given to an urban renewal area in Barcelona's formerly industrial area of Poblenou, in the district of Sant Martí, nicknamed "the Catalan Manchester" in the 19th century. Its aim is to convert Poblenou into the city's technological and innovation district, as well as to increase leisure and residential spaces. Centered on Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, it is part of one of Europe's biggest urban regeneration schemes, begun during the 2000s and still ongoing, spanning 115 blocks (198.26 hectares (489.9 acres)). The plan was approved in 2000 by the city council when the new 22@ land designation was introduced, replacing the 22a designation, used in city zoning.

The 22@Barcelona model is already being applied in other areas of the city and is a benchmark in urban, economic and social transformation in cities like Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Istanbul and Cape Town. It is a compact and diverse city that, instead of applying a territorial specialization model, employs a mixed model that favors social cohesion and fosters balanced and sustainable urban and economic development.

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