The Rambla terraces will all be the same: "We know where we come from and we don't want to go back"

BarcelonaJaume Collboni's City Council is moving forward in defining what Barcelona's new Rambla will be like, which has been undergoing a major transformation for months. This Monday, the council announced that they have already initiated the procedures to declare this emblematic Barcelona avenue as a "terrace excellence zone." In practice, this means that the terraces installed on La Rambla after the works will have to have the same aesthetic style and a homogeneous design.

To achieve this, the Barcelona council has closed a collaboration with the Fomento de las Artes y del Diseño (FAD) and has reached an agreement with Amics de la Rambla and the Gremi de Restauració. Thus, a style guide has been created that defines how the furniture, materials, and shapes of the tables and chairs, the colors of the cushions and other textile elements, and the shape of the parasols should be. A competition will also be held to define how the blackboards, screens, or separators between establishments should be. "We want there to be visual and aesthetic enjoyment on La Rambla as well," explained Collboni.

The mayor assured that this is the first time Barcelona has undertaken a measure of this type. "It will be implemented for the first time on La Rambla, but perhaps not for the last. We like it, because we believe that in particularly unique places like La Rambla, it is worth making the effort with the involved sectors to know how to improve the experience of being on a terrace and at the same time also the image of the city," said the mayor.

This new look for La Rambla can be seen from February, when the works are finished. In total, it will affect 24 terraces which will have a maximum of 322 tables spread across all establishments on La Rambla (previously there were 382), always located between the tree grates –the spaces where the trees grow– and not on the front part.

The regulations will also define that there will be a maximum of 24 tables per terrace. In the upper part of La Rambla, which is narrower, fewer will be allowed, and in the lower part, on the Rambla de Santa Mònica, where the space is wider, more will be allowed "because the space allows it.

The head architect of the City Council, Maria Buhigas, explained that, beyond colors, "the style guide primarily defines the minimum qualities, and there is a price range that the Guild of Restaurateurs has considered acceptable," said the architect.

"Fighting the trivialization of public space"

On the other hand, Collboni has made it clear that large colored glasses, chalkboards in the middle of the promenade, and photographs of paellas "are incompatible with the new proposed model." He also recalled: "Collectors are also not allowed; neither now nor after the reform." "This is Barcelona. A city of design can and must use this knowledge and fight against the trivialization of public space," Collboni snapped, emphasizing the need to combine spaces with aesthetics. "We know where we come from and that is precisely where we do not want to go back to," the mayor made clear.

The decree for this new area of excellence for terraces, which must now be technically endorsed by the Technical Commission for Terraces of Barcelona, is part of the execution of the third phase of the works, which began in January and has already led to the removal of terraces from establishments in the central section. Collboni assured that the work schedule, which was reduced from seven to three years, "is progressing at a good pace and within the deadline."

From Amics de la Rambla, the association's president, Àlex Balletbó, praised the agreement and the consensus worked out with social agents. For his part, the director of the Gremi de Restauradors, Roger Pallerols, agreed that the homogeneous image of the Rambla will be loaded "with symbolism and content." "We have had complex conversations, but we have amended all disagreements and this agreement represents a balance between the restaurateurs' claims and the scenario the city government wants," he summarized. "Now terraces and excellence are the same thing," Pallerols concluded.