Is there an ideal place for music? In Rehearsal Room, Juan de la Rubia, musician and titular organist of the Sagrada Familia Basilica, and Benedetta Tagliabue, architect and designer of auditoriums and concert halls, among other projects, discuss how walls create spaces that allow us to listen to music. The work of Johann Sebastian Bach, Passacaglia and Fugue in C Minor 582A cathedral-like work for organ accompanies the debate in the video podcast of the Palau de la Música Catalana: An ideal place for music

"Trying to understand the complexity of the city begins with observing it." This phrase closes the video that concludes the exhibition. Barcelona = (Diversity + Intensity) x Complexity, But it could open. The exhibition, which opens this Thursday at the former headquarters of the Gustavo Gili publishing house and will run until December 13, is an invitation to contemplate the Catalan capital with a fresh perspective, and at the same time an ode to large cities like Barcelona despite the mounting challenges.

In his approach to the true story of the conception and construction of the Grande Arche de la Défense – one of the architectural landmarks of 20th-century Paris –, The architect It adopts a unique perspective, far removed from the usual approaches of cinema that seeks to study artistic forms. Instead of foregrounding the emotional and sentimental drama of the protagonist—the Dane Johan Otto von Spreckelsen, the unexpected winner of the competition to design the Parisian Arc—the film focuses on the artisanal dimension of the pharaonic architectural project. Thus, director and screenwriter Stéphane Demoustier manages to portray, from an almost microscopic perspective, the planning, sketching, and material selection tasks that Spreckelsen undertakes during the process of creating his magnum opus. These sources of pleasure contrast sharply with the anxiety caused to the architect by bureaucratic obstacles and the constant negotiation with political interests.

Pol Casellas (Barcelona, ​​1995) is an architect, but he is best known for his work on social media, where he shares unknown, curious, and surprising stories about Barcelona. His passion for urban planning, architecture, and the city of his birth led him to launch this project with no other aim than to share knowledge, but it has ended up being so successful that it still surprises him and has led him to publish his first book. The impossible Barcelona (Compass Rose).

On March 26, 1938, a bomb dropped by Franco's air force fell in the heart of Reus, in the Plaça del Mercadal, damaging Casa Navàs. The projectile caused damage to the upper part of the building and toppled the turret that crowned one of Reus's most emblematic buildings, a Modernist jewel built at the beginning of the 20th century by Lluís Domènech i Montaner. Fortunately, the main floor was not affected, and during the 1940s the upper part of the building was rebuilt, but not the turret. More than eighty years later, the current owner of Casa Navàs, Maser Grup, has decided to reconstruct this distinctive feature. Work on the building began last July, but much preparation was required before the first scaffolding was erected.

Casa Navàs, due to its unique character, is one of the finest examples of Modernisme in Europe. Built between 1901 and 1908 by the architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner and the decorator Gaspar Homar, it is the only Modernista building in Spain that has survived to this day in its original state. The building was commissioned by Joaquim Navàs, a wealthy textile merchant, during a period of great economic activity in Reus. Navàs and his wife, Pepa Blasco, asked Domènech i Montaner to design a shop-house on one of the corners of Plaça del Mercadal. The commission had a virtually unlimited budget, which explains why it became one of the Barcelona architect's most lavish works.

Lluís Domènech i Montaner (Barcelona, ​​1849-1923) was one of the most important architects of Catalan Modernism. A graduate in architecture in 1873, he designed such imposing buildings as the Palau de la Música Catalana and the Hospital de Sant Pau in Barcelona. As a teacher, he mentored such prominent figures of Catalan Modernism as Antoni Gaudí, Josep Puig i Cadafalch, and Josep Maria Jujol. Domènech i Montaner also excelled as a type designer, illustrator, and bookbinder. His political involvement was particularly significant. Committed to Catalan political identity, he was a driving force behind the Regionalist League and also served as a member of the Spanish Parliament. He combined his profession with studies in heraldry and Romanesque art.

On a narrow plot of land in Girona's historic center, where party walls stretch endlessly and light inside homes always seems scarce, architect Víctor Bouman—head of the studio Bouman Arquitectura, based in Girona and Llançà—came across one of these properties. What had once been an extremely long and narrow terraced house, over thirty meters deep and only four and a half meters wide, was, when they arrived, a veritable ruin: collapsed roofs, persistent dampness, damaged floors and cladding, and a very real feeling of being in a dark, endless tunnel.

Influenced by his extensive studies of classical and medieval architecture, as well as his passion for heraldry, the work of architect Lluís Domènech i Montaner is distinguished by its use of ornamentation, often exuberant, especially during his Floral period, where ceramics, glass, iron, and wood become works of art. This ornamental richness features elements from real and fantastical bestiaries, which the architect imbued with specific symbolism in each of his projects, allowing for different interpretations depending on the context. To explore this aspect of his work in depth, the Lluís Domènech i Montaner Studies Center (CEDIM) has recently published the book The bestiary of Domènech i MontanerFiguration and Symbolism, by Gemma Martí, is a comprehensive and detailed study that identifies zoomorphic representations in the architect's work and offers a symbolic interpretation.

From the street, Vil·la Emma appears very small, quiet, and peaceful, almost as if it barely exists. In Binibèquer Vell, on a plot that is more open than enclosed with Menorcan wooden barriers, dry stone walls, and low vegetation, the façade facing the dead-end roundabout consists of little more than a discreet door and a white wall that doesn't seek any prominence. There is nothing in this exterior image that betrays what lies beyond. It is a seemingly simple house, deeply rooted in Menorca, that has chosen not to attract attention, not to overwhelm, not to impose itself. And precisely for that reason, from other angles, and especially upon entering, Vil·la Emma surprises.

When the real estate agency told him about a house in Montuïri that they weren't even offering because it was "a disaster" that he wouldn't like anyway, architect Luis Arredondo knew that, precisely for that reason, he wanted to see it. The head of the Arrel studio was looking for a place to live and work, and that ground floor, upper floor, and rooftop terrace—all dark, damp, and without any view—that little house between party walls that nobody wanted, fit more with an intuition than with a plan for living and working. It was sunken in, boxed in between party walls that far exceeded its height—it had a five-meter facade to the north, with existing stone walls, and was compressed between a twelve-meter-high southern party wall and a ten-meter-high northern facade—it lacked ventilation, and the upper floor, seven meters higher, was only fifty square meters. Furthermore, the fact that the town of Montuïri is built on a hill created a difference in elevation of up to four meters between the street and the back of the house. It was all challenges to overcome.

In the book Modern architecture and historical heritagePublished by Ediciones Asimétricas, architect Cristóbal Vallhonrat reviews architectural interventions in historic sites. The chronology begins in the Renaissance, but the cases included are primarily from the 19th and 20th centuries. Here are 10 outstanding works from the last 100 years.

There are houses that, however contemporary they may appear, seem to have always been there. The house that the Twobo studio—led by architects Pablo Twose, María Pancorbo, and Alberto Twose—has built in Matadepera belongs to this category: a highly contemporary architecture that doesn't impose itself, that buries itself in the terrain, and that blends seamlessly into the landscape. It is a house made, literally, of the color of the earth itself.

A constellation of architectural stars has arrived in Barcelona: the competition for the construction of the Liceu Mar has attracted numerous renowned architects from around the world. According to the Liceu, 55 firms participated in the first phase of the competition, including Herzog & De Meuron, Zaha Hadid Architects, Toyo Ito, Kengo Kuma, David Chipperfield, Shiger Ban, Bjarke Ingels Group, Bofill Arquitectura, SOM, Christian de Portzamparc, and SANAA. Many of these firms are participating in partnership with other studios, such as Diller Scofidio + Renfro, who are competing with Benedetta Tagliabue. The list includes prominent Catalan studios from different generations, such as those of Carme Pinós, Fermín Vázquez, Garcés, De Seta, Bonet Arquitectos, Bach Arquitectos, Enric Ruiz-Geli, Alonso Balaguer, Pich Aguilera, Josep Llinàs, Batlle i Roig, Flexo, Jordi Badia, and the trio from BAX studio. "The significance of this project is unique, as it combines the construction of a new cultural building with the urban transformation of its surroundings in Port Vell, creating an emblematic space of centrality and harmony in Barcelona," stated the Liceu.

Entering this house, designed by the studio 05 AM Arquitectura, is like opening a window onto a new dimension. This is because the architects who run this Girona-based studio, Joan Arnau and Carme Muñoz, conceived a discreet and secluded entrance to the north. However, shortly after passing through the front door, one discovers an interior that suddenly and generously expands to the south, flooded with light.

For decades now, many of the most renowned squares in the Western world have been transformed into large roundabouts designed for vehicular traffic, relegating pedestrians to the periphery—or even just the sidewalks—of these spaces. This metamorphosis has profoundly altered our understanding of the square: it is no longer the meeting place and social hub our grandparents knew, but a thoroughfare, subject to the logic of the vehicle.

Rembrandt, Vermeer, Van Gogh. The Netherlands boasts a significant artistic legacy, but also an architectural one. In fact, the iconic houses and buildings scattered throughout the country provide a great excuse to create a tourist itinerary that often combines art and nature. We propose four unique buildings that offer a close-up look at the country's architectural history.

In Matadepera, at the foot of the Sant Llorenç del Munt massif, a young couple has built their first home on a 600-square-meter plot that was part of a family property. The flat, south-facing site was surrounded by two other houses and dotted with a few trees. The owners wanted a simple yet adaptable home, capable of offering privacy without sacrificing openness and light, and flexible enough to adjust to life's changes.

Before it was a home, it was a workshop—yes, a carpentry shop. For decades, planks were worked within the walls now inhabited by a family. It smelled of wood and the sound of their own tools echoed. Today, that past is not only remembered, it's breathed in. Architect Clara Crous, who describes hers as a practice of "conscious, local architecture and interior design," has transformed the old carpentry shop in a village in the Alt Empordà into a home that looks to the present without abandoning its original essence. Her intervention doesn't erase the traces of what was there, but rather makes it visible and transforms it into a vital structure of the project.

Architecture is much more than plans. It's a way of designing life. When we enter someone's home, we also enter their privacy. It's no surprise that there is interest in learning about the interiors of famous—but also curious—buildings that surround us. Aware of this interest among citizens, the Girona branch of the Official College of Architects of Catalonia (COAC) is expanding its public tours and visits—not just for professionals—to award-winning buildings and houses this fall. In total, it has promoted more than 40 activities throughout the district, many of which involve guided tours by the architects who have built award-winning houses. We review five excuses to explore their interiors.