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Marina Vela Barcelona and Port of Barcelona inaugurate the new Mirador building and the Rambla del Rompeola (Escullera)

  • #7/2023, Port

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.

This inauguration is one of the first results 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 area, “today we are opening a balcony on the sea and a new window onto 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.

Rambla del "Rompeolas"

The construction of the Rambla del “Rompeolas”, which occupies the route of the old breakwater known by this name, incorporates 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 Nova Bocana, inviting reflection on what this place in the Port still means in the collective imagination of the people of Barcelona.

This cultural route also extends to the surrounding areas of the Nova Bocana, specifically in the Plaça Rosa dels Vents 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

It is in a privileged location overlooking the city of Barcelona and its port, right at the end of the new Rambla. It shows Marina Vela as a place to experience the America’s Cup but beyond this singular event, it will remain as a space open to the citizens of Barcelona and the people who visit this city so that they can enjoy, even more, in a singular way the maritime environment of Barcelona.

 

The building is designed in the manner of a portico, to give continuity to the promenade on which it enters, creating a large porch that frames the views, establishing a landmark at the end of the route and offering a shaded area that acts as a preamble to the new square that allows people to rest on the steps that brighten up the view with the activity of the boats right at the entrance to the Port of Barcelona.

Two iconic spaces open to the public

Among the planned uses 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 quayside level, reminiscent of the Porta Coeli restaurant located on the old breakwater. In addition, the new building will house a hall for cultural activities, commercial premises and port warehouses.

But mainly the space open to the public is the Mirador Building. Alberto Garcia, general manager of Marina Vela, emphasised at the presentation that “it is a day of celebration for the whole city of Barcelona, since an iconic, absolutely unique and privileged space is being opened to the public, a space for citizens to enjoy the Mediterranean Sea and port infrastructures in a different way”.

The Mirador Building’s roof floor, with a seating capacity of 99 people, offers unparalleled views of the Mediterranean Sea and the Port of Barcelona.

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, with the invaluable collaboration of the architectural studios BB Arquitectes and SCOB, the construction company Certis and the theming company Namar.

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