Six unique spaces in Barcelona to open doors for architecture festival

Palau de la Música, Park Güell tank among sites up for visits but reserves get full within minutes

Palau de la Música Catalana music hall
Palau de la Música Catalana music hall / Cillian Shields
Catalan News

Catalan News | @catalannews | Barcelona

April 19, 2023 12:25 PM

April 19, 2023 12:25 PM

Six unique spaces in Barcelona usually closed to the public will open their doors for the 'Model. Barcelona Architectures Festival,' an event which includes more than 100 activities over 10 days, organized by the Barcelona local council.

The association 48h Open House Barcelona explained that the sites such as Palau de la Música modernist concert hall and Park Güell's underground water cistern will be open for visits – yet, organizers say slots for all six sites available were snapped up within minutes after being released. 

Palau de la Música's main rooms, offices and a dressing room will be shown as part of the open doors day.

Designed by Lluís Domènech i Montaner, the Palau de la Música Catalana opened in 1908 and was given UNESCO status in 1997. Light, color, and ornate modernist decorations fill the concert hall. / Cillian Shields

Also, the water cistern at Park Güell's Hypostyle Room, designed by Antoni Gaudí, will be open for visits.

One of the two Venetian Towers at Plaça Espanya, on the footsteps of the Montjuïc hill, and Casa Tosquella, a modernist building, are among the other highlights.

An interior gallery of Vallvidrera reservoir and Casa de la Premsa, the building that hosted journalists during the 1929 Barcelona International Exposition, are the other two sites chosen by 48h Open House Barcelona. 

The organization acknowledged to Catalan News that demand was clearly higher than the offer but said that this initiative is also positive to raise awareness of the lesser known architectural heritage of the city – they aim to include some of these buildings in future open doors events.

Event combining music and architecture

Another related event they will hold during the festival is the 'Música x Arquitectura' party.

It will offer proposals that relate architectural experiences with creative activities around music, artistic sound expressions designed to explain architecture from creative immersion and to influence the architectural experience of the public.

Ten shortlisted projects for a video contest will be presented before a concert given by Pappenheim and Syneba, two local bands.

The event will take place on April 27 at 6pm at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), in Barcelona. The form to register for the event can be found here.