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A walk around the Olympic Village
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A tour of the Olympic Village enables us to discover
this new neighbourhood of Barcelona, an extremely important
part of the works of the Olympic programme. We begin
our walk at the Plaça dels Voluntaris, in front of which
there stand the two towers which, with their original
architecture, give the neighbourhood its own character.
One of the towers is the Hotel Arts, the work of the
architects Bruce Graham and Frank O. Gehry, with 44
floors and 456 bedrooms; the other is the Mapfre Tower,
designed by Iñigo Ortiz and Enrique de León, an office
building with a commercial centre on the ground floor.
These two towers have a height of 153.5 m and are the
highest in Spain
In the Plaça dels Voluntaris itself there is a giant
fountain, designed by Josep M. Mercè, and not far
away can be seen the face of the sculpture David and
Goliath, by Antoni Llena. Further in the distance
we see Frank O. Gehry's Gold Fish, and behind that
the Atlanta Gardens, with the chimney of the Can Folch
factory, a testimony to the industrial past of the
zone, and the group of buildings in the form of an
ellipse, the work of the Martorell- Bohigas-Mackay-Puigdomènech
team of architects, who designed the overall plan
of the Olympic Village.
Now we can stroll across the Park
of the Olympic Harbour , until we reach Carrer
de Rosa Sensat. The group of buildings which form
the neighbourhood are the work of architects who have
won the FAD prizes for architecture: the Eurocity
2, 3, and 4 buildings, situated at the crossroads
of Carrer de Rosa Sensat with Avinguda Icària, designed
by Helio de Piñón and Albert Vilaplana, count among
the most original of this urban complex. The Telefònica
building is by Jaume Bach and Gabriel Mora. Following
Avinguda del Bogatell, we find the circular Plaça
de Tirant lo Blanc, with buildings by Elies Torres
and Josep Antoni Martínez Lapeña.
Crossing the Plaça, we reach Carrer de Salvador Espriu,
where we find one of the fountains designed by Oscar
Tusquets and the Canary Islands sculptor Juan Bordas.
We can cross the Ronda del Litoral by one of the wooden
bridges to reach the Parc dels Ponts, where there
is a small canal. The large sculpture Tallavents ('windbreaker'),
by Francesc Fornells, stands at the crossroads of
Carrer de Salvador Espriu and Carrer de Vicens Vives.
We finish this brief tour at the Plaça dels Campions,
where we find, set in the ground, a list of the 257
gold medals won during the 1992 Olympic Games. Some
of the legendary figures of international sport have
left their handprints in this square.
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| The
Olympic Harbour |
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The
Olympic Harbour , built for the 1992 Games,
is an excellent global work by the architects
Oriol Bohigas, Josep Martorell, David Mackay and
Albert Puigdomènech and the engineer Joan Ramon
de Clascà. It was a key element of the competitions
held during the Games, which required this type
of installation. Its capacity enables it to berth
a considerable number of sports boats, and, in
addition to being one of the most important areas
of the new city facing the sea, it has a large
number of restaurants, bars and other establishments
which have made Barcelona's nightlife even more
intense. It's a place where you can stroll, ride
a bike or study the offer of the small stalls
that, on certain days of the week, are set up
in the open air and sell anything from paintings
to articles of cut glass.
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| The
Olympic Ring |
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Within the remodelling works which have given
rise to the new Barcelona facing the sea, we
must also mention the highest part of the city:
the hill of Montjuïc, where the sports facilities
were remodelled to adapt them to the modern
conditions demanded by the holding of the 1992
Olympic Games.
The extensive area of the Montjuïc hill which
has been reurbanised between the Stadium Straight
and the walls of the cemetery was named the
Olympic Ring. This part of the hill has undergone
a radical change: the Stadium
was rebuilt , respecting the façade, and the Picornell
swimming pools , built in 1969, were
modernised.Two brand-new buildings were constructed:
the Sant
Jordi Sports Hall , by Arata Isozaki,
and the National
Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia.
Also integrated into this area is a new baseball
ground, a circular pond, the acclimatisation
garden from the 1929 Universal Exhibition, an
extensive park area and a monolith commemorating
the Olympic Games by the engineer Santiago Calatrava.
The esplanade is decorated by the sculpture
Canvi ('Change'), by Aiko Miyawaki, the wife
of Arata Isozaki. The general urbanisation project
of the Olympic Ring is the work of the team
formed by Federico Correa, Alfonso Milá, Carles
Buixadé and Joan Margarit.
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| El Palau Sant Jordi |
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The
Palau
Sant Jordi is considered the most important
element of the Olympic Ring. It is a covered sports
pavilion, designed basically for the competitions
of athletic and rhythmic gymnastics and the finals
of handball and volleyball of the 1992 Olympic
Games. It can stage a wide variety of sports events
and other spectacles. An athletics track of 200
m inner perimeter and a skating rink can be installed,
as can a stage for concerts or ballet performances.
A giant high-fidelity video screen reproduces
the images of the performances of the athletes
or artists.
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The terraces have a capacity for 17,000 spectators,
and the ventilation system is designed to be
supported by an air-conditioning installation
if necessary. Alongside the main hall there
is a flat- roofed multi-purpose pavilion with
a capacity for housing four basketball courts.
The author of the project is the Japanese architect
Arata Isozaki.
Its construction began in August 1985 and it
was inaugurated during the festivity of La Mercè
in September 1990. The roof, computer- designed
by the Japanese engineer Mamoru Kawaguchi, is
an extraordinary work of engineering. It is
formed by a large concave metallic grid which
supports the glazed ceramic tiles and the zinc
sheets which ensure impermeability.
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| The
National Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia |
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The project of the Sports University was commissioned
to Ricard Bofill. After the Olympic Games, this
university became the seat of the National
Institute of Physical Education of Catalonia
(INEFC). An important participation
in the design of this building is attributed
to Peter Hodgkinson, a member of Bofill's architectural
workshop. The construction consists of two symmetrical
buildings, with four floors and a neoclassical
façade, united by a vestibule. There are two
twin courtyards of 50 x 50 m, one of which staged
the modern and Greco-Roman wrestling competitions
during the Games, while the other contained
five warm-up mats.
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The works commenced in April 1988 and were financed
in their entirety by the Government of Catalonia.
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| L' Estadi Olímpic |
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The
Olympic
Stadium of Montjuïc has a capacity for
55,000 spectators, which can be increased to 77,000
with the incorporation of temporary terracing.
It can stage sports competitions, musical performances
or any type of popular event.
This new construction
is a transformation of the old stadium, of which
it conserves the façade designed by the architect
Pere Domènech i Roure (the son of the modernist
Lluís Domènech i Montaner), the ornamental frontage
by the sculptor Vicenç Navarro, and the statues
over the main entrance by Pau Gargallo.
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The rest was constructed
following the project resulting from fusing into
one the projects submitted to the international
contest by the architect Vittorio Gregotti, on
one hand, and the team formed by Federico Correa,
Alfonso Milà, Carles Buixadé and Joan Margarit,
on the other. Richard Weile was the technical
supervisor of the plans and the consultant on
matters of sports engineering.
The opening ceremony of the 1992 Olympic Games
took place at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium.
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