Both infrastructures are destined, by their location and design, to become a new iconic point of cultural, leisure and restaurant activity in the city of Barcelona. They form part of the process of transformation of the Port of Barcelona, especially the Nova Bocana, which includes a sequence of interventions that generate new spaces for public use open to the citizens.
Twenty years after the opening of the north entrance to the port enclosure, ‘today we are opening a balcony to the sea and a new window to the city so that everyone can discover different views of Barcelona, unique and unusual views until now’, said the president of the Port of Barcelona, Lluís Salvadó, during the inauguration of these new public spaces.
The construction of the Rambla del “Rompeolas”, which occupies the old breakwater known by that name, and the Mirador building has led to the creation of a cultural route consisting of a series of elements that tell the story of the old breakwater and its importance for the city, from 1914 to the opening of the New Entrance, inviting you to think on what this place of the Port still means in the imagination of the people of Barcelona.
This cultural route also extends to the surrounding areas of the New Entrance, specifically in the Rosa dels Vents’ square and the New Promenade of the Breakwater, to integrate the whole space, with exhibition panels, engravings of poems and texts by catalan authors and other unique elements.
The Mirador building
The Mirador building is in a privileged location in the city of Barcelona and its port, right at the end of the new Rambla. It dresses up Marina Vela as a place to be to enjoy the America’s Cup but, beyond this unique event, it will remain as a space opened to the citizens of Barcelona and to the people who visit this city so that they can enjoy, even more and in a unique way, the maritime environment of Barcelona.
The building is designed as a porch to give continuity to the promenade on which it stands, creating a large porch that frames the views, establishing a landmark at the end of the route and offering a shady spot that acts as a preamble to the new square. Its grandstands create a unique space to brighten up the view with the activity of the boats right at the entrance to the Port of Barcelona.
Among the plans of use of the Mirador Building are the restaurant areas, which include a restaurant in the suspended space on the first floor, a bar with an outdoor terrace on the Rambla facing the sea and a canteen under the Rambla, at dock level, which refers to the memory of the Porta Coeli restaurant located on the old breakwater. As well as commercial units, port storages and facilities annexed to the restaurant.
But above all, the Mirador Building is a space open to the public. Alberto García, general manager of Marina Vela, emphasised at the presentation that “it is a day of celebration for the whole city of Barcelona, as an iconic, absolutely unique and privileged space is opened to the public, a space for citizens to enjoy the Mediterranean Sea and port infrastructures in a different way”.
The roof floor of the Mirador Building, with a seating capacity of 99 people, offers unparalleled views of the Mediterranean Sea, the Port and the city of Barcelona. It also houses a 500 square meters venue for cultural activities.
Both the Rambla del Mirador Building and the Mirador Building are an example of the capacity of public-private collaboration models to improve public infrastructures, thanks to the work of the architects of the Mirador Building, Antoni Barceló and Gustau Gili, the construction company Certis, the architects and landscapers Sergi Carulla and Oscar Blanco from Scob, responsible for the architectural-landscape project of the Port Museu, and the company Namar.