The controversial project to convert the Mundet Homes theater into offices

BarcelonaA consensus among architects is that the best way to preserve a building over time is to keep it in use. And if its use doesn't change too much, the building probably won't have to undergo radical transformations. In the case of the Mundet Homes complex, owned by the Barcelona Provincial Council and ceded to the University of Barcelona (UB), this was the case with the renovations carried out by Francesc Labastida and Manuel Ribas Piera in the 1990s. But now the UB's project to install the Barcelona Center for Applied Neurosciences (BCAN) in the former theater.

The project is currently in the competition phase, and the winner is expected to be announced in September. In a letter published by the association Architects for Architecture, the architect Jaume Ratera He is highly critical of the decision of the Provincial Council and the UB and explains his position by citing some reflections by architects Ignacio Paricio and Xavier Sust, compiled by critic Xavier Monteys, on the flexibility and rigidity of spaces represented by a cigar box, which can have various uses, and the case of an unused performance hall, designed for... "The objective of the competition is to shoehorn in an extensive, fragmented, and complex functional program to locate the BCAN project's facilities in a unique building with a specific use as a theater," Ratera laments.

The hall, which has a capacity for around 1,300 people, fell into disuse in the 1990s and has since been falling into disrepair. Ratera fears that the future project could affect the paintings by Josep Guinovart, a mosaic by Armand Olivé in the theater foyer, and the ceramic cladding of the stands. He published some of the latest images. the journalist Xavi Casinos in 2020 in The Vanguard, where the poor condition of the stage entrance and the side stands could be seen. The ARA has requested access to the interior of the theater where the stalls were, but the UB has not authorized it.

"We have broken the casing to make a grotesque box," says Ratera, "and this entails the loss of heritage both for the building and its works of art, which are inherent and inseparable in its spaces." "In my opinion, the promoters of the competition," she adds, "the Barcelona Provincial Council and the University of Barcelona, should adapt or make a box in a more suitable and respectful location. The Provincial Council must undoubtedly be, as it has stated in various forums, the guarantor for maintaining and conserving the heritage, seeking new ways to ensure its future and at the same time not betray its future, at the same time not betray the future Baldrich."

Initially, the girls' residence was located opposite the theater. Baldrich took advantage of the steep natural slope of the site to build the auditorium. Thus, the entrance is located at the top, at the same level as the complex's central plaza. In an academic work, architect Antoni Garcés Terme highlights the exceptional nature of the Mundet Homes and points out that there are few recent studies on Baldrich and the fact that he has yet to be fully realized. "The Mundet Homes project represents an exception within the architectural panorama of its time and within the work of its architect; in the 1950s, Barcelona was undergoing a series of large-scale projects to address the city's housing shortage," Garcés states. "These new neighborhoods, like Montbau," he adds, "were formalized following modern criteria spearheaded by the ideas of Le Corbusier and Team 10, but in the Mundet Homes project, Baldrich breaks away from this trend and seeks somewhat different references to give a less urban and more friendly character to the new home for its users."

The former Mundet Homes theater hosted the orphanage's recreational activities and later became one of the largest cinemas in Barcelona. Due to its excellent acoustics, classical music recordings were made there, and it fell into disuse in the 1990s. The Mundet Homes complex is not listed as a heritage site. The initiative to install the BCAN in the theater arose a few years ago and is pending receipt of essential European Regional Development Funds (ERDF).

According to the architectural competition rules, one of the reasons for installing the offices in the theater is "the obsolescence of the main hall." Furthermore, the works are also planned to include the administration of the Mundet Campus and an auditorium "sized" for the campus' needs, UB sources explain to ARA. "A 1,300-seat theater is neither viable nor necessary today in that location," the same funds state. "The theater's artistic decorative elements are in good condition. The competition documents establish that they must be respected and preserved in their place or in the same facility to be designed." And, above all, they highlight the social value of the future center: "The BCAN will bring an unquestionable improvement for the common good and society. It must be the future engine of research, development, and innovation in the field of neuroscience applied to health."

The challenge of housing all uses in the existing building

As for the planned area of the reform, according to the competition rules there are about 2,496 m² corresponding to the U perimeter that surrounds the large hall, and the transformation of the interior of the hall can generate about 2,790 m² of built surface area. The total area of the facilities that the architects must include is 3,227 m.², because the UB's goal is to have minimal or no impact on the building's exterior. The program is very ambitious, and, according to Ratera, the future BCAN may overflow the building: it includes some 120 different spaces, including an auditorium for 300 people, 30 shared offices and 15 individual ones, cognition rooms, social interaction behavior rooms, and a neuroimaging unit, a MEG neuroimaging unit, with the services associated with all of them. "Baldrich's project is the whole. The Mundet Homes should be understood as a group of buildings that interconnect with each other," warns this architect. "The current initiative does not entail any increase in buildable area over the previously approved one. In fact, from an urban planning perspective, the volume could be expanded, but the competition itself rules out this option," the university emphasizes.

Why was the room allowed to be ruined?

The deterioration of the venue has appeared in the press on several occasions. Following the Casinos article, journalist Maria Eugenia Ibáñez addressed the issue two years ago. in the digital Street, Published by the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Barcelona. In her article, Ibáñez blamed the deterioration of the hall on the "failure to comply" with the agreements signed by the Barcelona Provincial Council and the UB regarding the complex. "The agreements signed by the Provincial Council and the UB starting in 1987 were, in theory, exemplary in the protection of the Mundet complex," the journalist stated. This means that these agreements oblige the UB to conserve the buildings and perform maintenance tasks "for a period equal to the duration of the agreements, updated every six years." "Compliance with these obligations must be verified every three years by the Provincial Council's civil construction service, and the results must be reported to the top management of both corporations. The cost of the works corresponds to the UB, but the Provincial Council can act as a subsidiary if the maintenance is not carried out. The assembly hall deserves special treatment under the agreements, which continue."

Ibáñez points out that these agreements stipulate that if the UB generates profits from the use of the buildings, it must give 50% to the Provincial Council. "But that possibility has not arisen because the university never used or rented the hall, nor did it restore it, and the Provincial Council neither demanded nor assumed the works to stop the progressive deterioration of the theater, which allows us to deduce that the current state of what was the exemplary Mundet theater is the result of a breach of commitments. The UB denies that the agreement with the Provincial Council included these clauses, but did include others: "The University of Barcelona is not aware of any formal commitment to maintain the theater hall and, therefore, we are not aware of any breach. The current agreement provides the following: this building has a pending buildable area associated with it, which the UB may develop in agreement with the Barcelona Provincial Council. the distribution of this buildable area".

"It makes no sense to dismantle this auditorium", Ibáñez stresses in the ARA, and proposes giving it a new use. "It is an auditorium like few others left -he warns-, in three neighbourhoods that do not have an auditorium, or have a very small one: Montbau, Vall d'Hebron and Font del Gos. The Llars Mundet theatre is a facility that has always been public. Can't the labs be built elsewhere, and the theatre serves as a cover?

On the institutional front, the BCAN project is led by the UB and has the collaboration of the Autonomous University of Barcelona (UAB), the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC) and the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF), in addition to the support of the Generalitat and the Barcelona Provincial Council. Last year, the Barcelona Provincial Council and the UB established an agreement for the Provincial Council to subsidize the project with 978,000 euros (300,000 this year and 678,000 in 2026), in addition to the million euros that the General Directorate of Research of the Generalitat made in 2023. ~BK_SLT_NA