Ana Coello: "We should avoid the touristification of the Glòries"

BarcelonaAna Coello (Girona, 1973) is an architect and landscape designer. Together with Olivier Philippe (Agence Ter), she won the 2014 competition to design the new Glòries Park, the central section of which opened just two months ago. We met her at the inverted garden that serves as the metro access point, one of the icons of the new park.

How does it feel to walk through a project to which you've dedicated so many hours?

— It's very exciting. Especially seeing people going about their daily lives. The reception on opening day made us realize the need for open public space in neighborhoods as densely populated as Glòries.

What is your first memory of Plaça de les Glòries?

— The fracture it represented. The difficulty of crossing it. One of the goals now was to connect. The old ring road, although it performed well enough for its original purpose of solving the intersections of busy streets, was like a barrier. There were neighborhoods that were very close, but not connected pedestrianly.

There is now a debate about whether we can continue to call it a square or if it is a park.

— It was an opportunity to create a park of considerable size that was easy to use. But it also had to serve as a plaza, with the connection to the 22@ metro and the transport interchange that make Glòries a very civic area. That's why we created a hard space.

Has the new park created a new centrality for the city as Cerdà imagined?

— The park plays a role in all of this, but I believe many other factors play an important role in this new centrality. I'm thinking of the 22@ neighborhood, the housing and facilities that will be built around the park, the urban redevelopment of the area...

Until now, it seemed that Glòries was an almost cursed corner, difficult to resolve.

— What happened in Glòries also depended on what was happening around it. Until the Games, the city didn't have ring roads, and vehicle exits were as they were. I think what the city has been doing around it—the transformation of the Meridiana, the continuation of the Diagonal to the sea, the arrival of the tram, the 22@ line...—has made it the perfect opportunity to make Glòries a public space of its current character. The Gran Via tunnel has been the great opportunity here. Without the tunnel, no park is possible.

Do you have a favorite spot in the park?

— I really like the biodiversity hubs because they're responding very well to this idea of letting nature take its course and allowing wildlife to reclaim its space.

What is happening at these nodes?

— Small habitats have been created to encourage species of birds, insects, reptiles, and so on to find a way to inhabit the city. In the end, we share Barcelona with these living beings, and we've relegated them to very small spaces.

There's also a great diversity of trees and plants. Why?

— The goal is to create resilience. We want to ensure that no single species, if attacked by a pest, wipes out a portion of the park. Furthermore, this diversity also attracts different types of fauna, all of which enhances biodiversity.

And has there been anything that has surprised you about how people use the park?

— The use of the mirror as a bathing area was a surprise, and the bamboo garden may be the area with the fewest people currently. I think it needs the trees to grow. When the bamboo grows two or three times as tall, it will be a very pleasant space.

One of the complaints so far is that there is little shade.

— Yes, the shade house was already made with the idea of generating at least a space with some shade while the vegetation grows.

Another complaint has been the difficult coexistence between pedestrians and cyclists.

— It's a difficult issue to resolve. These decisions are made by the City Council's transportation department. But the park is a pedestrian priority zone, and cyclists who want to get there much faster should perhaps detour.

Like the tram? Instead of crossing the park, it brushes past it?

— This would be the route for cyclists who want to go fast.

Is the children's play area a tribute to the old road link?

— It wasn't the idea, it was a coincidence. The initial idea was to create height because it creates play and movement.

So far, it seems to be off the radar of much of the tourist industry. Are you worried it could become overcrowded?

— Yes. I think we should try to avoid this touristification as much as possible. It's true that Glòries has very unique features that attract people from all over the city, but we would like it to remain a park for the residents of the riverbank, because they promoted this entire project with that 2007 Commitment letter.

Despite its opening two months ago, the park isn't finished yet. What's missing?

— The section from Clariana to Consell de Cent is missing. In this area, the most characteristic feature will be the appearance of the entire line of the county irrigation canal; the city has a strategy to explain a little about what it was like.

And on this route to Consell de Cent, would it be good for the green axis to extend to Les Glòries?

— Man, that would be nice. The thing is, it's up to the city to decide.

Glòries is the city's latest major transformation. What do you think is missing?

— There are many things. One issue we're working on is the Tres Turons. It's a space in the city that has a lot of potential, but it's difficult to resolve. And then the relationship with the coast in some areas, or continuing with the green axes strategy, which is transformative and has worked very well.

You're an architect and landscape designer. Have we sometimes forgotten that the city is also a landscape?

— It's changed a lot in recent years. Architecture has always had a strong presence in Barcelona, and until recently, landscape was perhaps not as prominent. Now, this has changed radically.