SANTA CATERINA MARKET -

BARCELONA

EMBT won the bid with a proposal that aimed at incorporating the extreme complexity of the setting itself by creating a commercial market complemented by a residential zone and public spaces that integrated all the activities of the neighborhood. 

The project maintains parts of the existing structure and the architects proposed a new and creative render of the area which respected the history and context of the site. The proposal superimposes new architecture on old, mixes them, and comes up with a conglomerate, a hybrid that accentuates usefulness and is contemporary. 

The interior distribution of the market was reorganized; there are fewer stands but the access and service systems are rationalized; the surface area of public spaces gains ground and communicates with the Avinguda Francesc Cambó, an important transitional vein in the neighborhood also surrounded by a dense network of narrow streets. 

Photo credits: Alex Gaultier