The Invisible City

This article is from the archive of Roca Gallery. It was first published in July, 2025.

Barcelona, as a European, Western, contemporary city, is not part of the debate on whether the city is a suitable social response to living and coexisting, as it is already a consolidated part of a territorial system that is open to improvement yet remains balanced. Its reality is far removed from that of countries where rural migration to cities is still a pressing issue. Barcelona, on the other hand, is engaged in a discussion about how to rethink the twenty-first century city and the changes it must face in light of new paradigms related to climate, coexistence, and the housing crisis. It is, therefore, a time for rethinking, a moment of opportunity and new approaches that do not conflict with the boldness, vision, and scale required by the new conditions.

The urgent need to pacify the city—driven by high levels of pollution and the imperative to mitigate the urban heat island effect—calls for intensive and far-reaching interventions in the design and use of public spaces. Shade, water collection and management systems, and vegetation are essential elements that must support the public space’s primarily social, yet also cultural and economic value.

In Barcelona, the transformation and pacification of the Consell de Cent green axis, together with its four perpendicular green axes —Girona, Casanova, Borrell, and Rocafort—is an initiative that responds to this urgent challenge. The intervention is designed so that each axis and each square (the intersections between axes) offer a distinct design response. During the project’s development, a standard model was collaboratively defined, establishing a foundation for systematizing specific shared parameters.

Our proposal for the Plaça Consell de Cent Borrell puts forward three key statements about the concept of public space—and, by extension, about the city itself.

On the one hand, the project is grounded in the view that public space functions as a system, rather than as a collection of isolated spaces or interventions. Specifically, in Barcelona’s Eixample district—where the layout and urban fabric are defining characteristics—the project favors a solution based on continuity, deliberately avoiding formal mannerism and stark contrasts, to create a neutral and flexible public space. Building on the active involvement of neighborhood associations in the area, the proposal emphasizes that the intensive use and appropriation of the space by its users should be the primary driver of its success.

The project offers a programmatic and systematic solution for pacifying the distinctive intersection of two streets in Barcelona’s Eixample district, characterized by its chamfered corners. The project manages the inherent tension between functioning as a passageway and creating spaces for people to gather by organizing a sequence of concentric zones. Through a series of parallel functional strips, it arranges the neighborhood’s collective activities (such as the market), circulation routes, terraces of the bars surrounding the square, and pedestrian paths adjacent to the facades. The programmatic systematization is proposed as a replicable and generic solution. Beyond the functional strips, the specific design aims to respond to the environmental conditions—such as a playground on the pavement for the nearby school and continuity with the Mediterranean-style building plinth—as well as the physical constraints of the site, including existing trees and underground infrastructure.

The invisible city, the infrastructure. The most significant contribution of the square project lies in what cannot be seen: the subsoil. Transforming the square into a water-capturing space—by reducing the amount of concrete at ground level, enabling rainwater infiltration for both collection and supporting greenery, and providing subsoil that promotes optimal growth of planted species—is a central part of the intervention and essential for building a sustainable city. The sectional design is clearly the true protagonist of the project, highlighting the importance of the subsoil in shaping the square, not only as a space with spatial qualities, but also with performative qualities about the built environment and, above all, climatic performance.

These three priorities inform the formal definition of the square: a central, shaded area— the heart of the intervention—designed to support neighborhood life and accommodate a range of activities. A continuous hard surface provides coherence, order, and rhythm to the various activities taking place in the space. Unlike an earthen floor, it ensures durability and usability for markets, meals, and events, regardless of weather conditions. The perimeter ring, where the bar terraces are located, is reinforced with a generous green strip that borders the square, expanding the area available for water and moisture collection.

The design of the square reflects a clear projective intent: to create a climatically active surface where neighborhood life both inhabits and energizes a formally neutral space, set within the city's influential, continuous, and historically iconic urban fabric.

Main image: Plaça Consell de Cent Borrell, Barcelona, 2023, clarasolamoralesstudio + Metronom Arquitectura + Frederic Villagrasa. Photo © Sandra Pereznieto