An auditorium for 9,000 spectators: this is what the new Sant Jordi Club will look like.

BarcelonaThe biggest shoebox in Catalonia will get even bigger. Barcelona City Council will build a new Sant Jordi Club on the same plot it currently occupies, expanding its capacity from 4,000 to 9,000. This responds to a long-standing request from the live music industry for a venue with a capacity of more than 4,000. For now, Barcelona can host indoor concerts for all capacities up to 2,000 people (3,000 at the Auditori del Fòrum and 4,000 at the current Sant Jordi Club), and for the Palau Sant Jordi to be a joy, it must attract between 12,000 and 17,000. What's missing is a venue that can meet the demand for concerts that may not fill the Palau Sant Jordi, but can still attract 9,000 spectators.

Laia Bonet, First Deputy Mayor of the City Council, explained this Monday that the expansion of the Sant Jordi Club, or rather, the construction of a new Sant Jordi Club, is part of an "ambitious project" that "aims to strengthen the Olympic Ring as a benchmark for live music, connection with citizens, and the environment." For its construction, the City Council will launch an international architecture competition on July 17. The project is expected to begin construction in 2027, with the new Sant Jordi Club opening in 2029. The project will cost €70 million and will be funded by the profits generated by BSM (Barcelona Municipal Services), the company that manages the Olympic Ring, the Zoo, the Olympic Park, and Tibidabo. Logically, events cannot be held at the Sant Jordi Club while the construction is ongoing.

Although the goal is to offer a venue for 9,000 spectators, the City Council wants it to be a flexible space that can also host shows designed for 3,500 people and accommodate concerts with people standing or seated. On the other hand, the advantage of lighting a new fire is that the Sant Jordi Club of the future is conceived as a space for music, not a sports venue. For this reason, specific acoustic measures are among the conditions of the competition. "It will be a unique and privileged auditorium," says Bonet, who points out that the Olympic Ring, which also includes the Palau Sant Jordi and the Olympic Stadium (with a capacity of 55,000), has had "two record years" in terms of live music. "And 80% of the attendees at these concerts are local audiences. Specifically, 40% are from Barcelona and the metropolitan area and 43% are from the rest of Catalonia," says Bonet.

The construction of the new Sant Jordi Club, which will occupy 16,500 m², is part of the project of regeneration of Montjuïc mountain announced by Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni at the beginning of the year, which was presented as "the third major transformation of Montjuïc after the 1929 Universal Exposition and the 1992 Olympic Games."

From an annex sports hall to a music auditorium

The Sant Jordi Club was born as an annex to one of the great architectural landmarks of Olympic Barcelona: the Palau Sant Jordi by architect Arata Isozaki. Construction began in 1986, the same year the Catalan capital was designated host of the 1992 Olympic Games. That annex, inaugurated on September 21, 1990, was primarily intended as a training space. In other words, it was built for sporting purposes. And as was the case with the Palau Sant Jordi, after the Olympic Games, sporting uses became increasingly sporadic. The biggest beneficiary was music.

Music promoters knew how to take advantage of a rectangular, shoebox-like structure measuring 2,976 m².² and dimensions of 32 meters wide, 90 meters long, and 14 meters high. It could accommodate a stage 20 meters wide and 12 meters deep, and in its early years had a capacity of 4,620 people, which later regulations reduced to 4,000. Finally, in September 2008, the Sala Anexa changed its name and became the Sant Jordi Club. Artists of all kinds have performed here, often as a prelude to the leap to the Palau Sant Jordi, such as the Valencian group Zoo. Some have performed two concerts in a row, like The Tyets, or even three, like Morad.