On 18 July, the exhibition of Final Degree Projects (TFGs) by students from the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture, which this year is entitled 22@_What? How to achieve balance in Northern Poblenou, Barcelona, will open in the former textile factory Ca l’Alier, the current headquarters for the urban innovation centre BIT-Habitat.

The exhibit will feature work by 10 final year Architecture students, who have put forward new architectural and urban planning proposals for 22@, an area that began a process of metamorphosis in the early 2000s in accordance with the “compact city” model, with housing, public facilities and high-quality green areas where residents could “work, live and learn”. 

Divided into three workshops directed by lecturers Iñaki Baquero, Marta García-Orte, Mamen Domingo and Ernest Ferré, the students revisited the Barcelona 22@ Plan in efforts to address, through their architectural and urban planning projects, the concerns the project has raised in the 20 years since its implementation. With their projects, the students looked at ways to increase the sparse residential population of Northern Poblenou, remedy the fragmentation of the urban space and discontinuity of free spaces and mitigate the problem of gentrification that is causing many residents to leave the district. These interventions were undertaken by students, based on an urban project and its analysis as part of 22@ Barcelona in the previous year within the framework of projects they created for a subject called Urbanism 3. This subject was coordinated by lecturers Álvaro Cuéllar and Pere Vall.  

During the event held to inaugurate the exhibition, experts involved in developing the Barcelona 22@ Plan and representatives from among the district’s inhabitants will take part in a discussion session aimed at promoting reflection on the district’s present and future situation. This open debate, which will take place at 6 p.m., will focus on aspects such as the need for new architectural proposals in the face of outmoded solutions and patterns and the appropriateness of involving the academic world in the restoration of areas that require greater flexibility and adaptability. 

During the event, the UIC Barcelona School of Architecture Chair in Industrial Construction and the Environment (CEIM) Awards will also be handed out, in recognition of projects with the most innovative solutions in the area of sustainability. The event will also serve as a platform for the Schindler Elevators Accessibility Awards, which recognise the TFGs that best integrate the parameters of accessibility from an architectural perspective. 

The exhibition will be organised in cooperation with BIT-Habitat and the Barcelona City Council, with sponsorship from the construction company Aislux. 

Free access