Rock Paper Pixel

In July FAD Barcelona invited me to participate in Rock Paper Pixel, a section within their yearly Fadfest, Barcelona's design festival, where local and international creativity is celebrated over two weeks of exhibitions, awards and activities. On its second year, these sessions of short talks aimed at glimpsing at the present of design and looking for the joy of the immediacy in a volatile communication environment.

Back to back with other creatives and spearheaded by communication design gurus Maria Popova and Debbie Millman, I was then granted 8 minutes to introduce my architecture/character design illustration work at the FAD's new home, the DHUB at the now unrecognisable Plaça de les Glories. A bit daunted by the size of the auditorium at the beginning I went over 6 years of work and focused on the key pieces that have shaped this experimental project to this day. It was a delight looking at some of the illustrations go scale 1:1 on the screen towering behind me –not even near that though way larger than my laptop screen…

Cross Section of the DHUB Creature

On my first visit to the DHUB last Christmas I was genuinely fascinated by this geometrical block that seems like an alien spaceship trying to remain unnoticed by taking the shape of a local animal. I then toyed with the idea of the FAD headquarters being housed inside this mighty beast while all the workers indifferently go about their business. So here's my own cross section of the DHUB creature and life as it goes on in its entrails. The drawing is worked to be blown to a huge cinema screen without it turning into a Tetris-cake of pixels. It's to be printed in an A1.

Boiler Room Heart

Board Room Lung

Greenhouse Lung

Thyroid Reactor

Throat Corridor

Kitchen Stomach

Intestines Design Studios and Library

Intestines Dance Studios and Film Club

Rectum Facilities

A City Fit For A God

I have been recently contacted by Barcelona-based La Salle Institute of Technology and kindly offered to collaborate with Q9, their architecture webzine. So, on a more or less regular basis I'll be contributing with a satirical architecture illustration blog called 'Arquitectura Destructiva' (Destructive Architecture). To start with, an entry featuring Sagrada Familia Basilica making room by power blasting Barcelona's famous grid district l'Eixample (Extension). Not very subtle. 

There's an ongoing controversy involving this building that has recently taken a new turn. As part of the original plan for his Roman Catholic masterpiece Gaudí had envisioned it at the centre of a star-shaped square. However that was back in 1882. Then he died and the city kept growing relentlessly swallowing the architect's star dream. 

Now, Barcelona City Council has dusted off Gaudi's idea and revealed seven other new proposals for the redevelopment of the vicinity of Sagrada Familia of which only one does not consider the demolition of surrounding architecture; some of it built at the turn of the 20th century. The Nativity and Passion facades are facing green areas but what was originally intended as the main entrance to the temple, the yet unfinished Glory facade, is currently obscured by 13-storey blocks. Additionally, after the building became internationally known after the 92 Olympics, the upsurge of tourists have left the surrounding facilities dated. 

Thus, the City Council deem it necessary to open up Spain's most visited landmark and design a monumental promenade that in its most ambitious proposal will see two blocks of houses being knocked down all the way down to Diagonal Avenue. Being by Barcelona's main traffic artery –it cuts the city in half along its 11 km length– the new layout will feature Sagrada Familia on a grandiose perspective fit for world status heritage. Hundreds of homes will be affected and neighbours relocated. No room for subtleties here either. 

It's time to get to an agreement between the Sagrada Familia Foundation and Neighbour Association under the supervision of the City Council. The option of leaving the plan untouched is there. 

When buildings become this iconic they become indirectly aggressive to their habitat. This one has the power of a God to get its well earned Lebensraum. 

Article by Rowan Moore for The Guardian

Psychedelic Fish Wall

I have done this short experimental animation after my last visit to Spain and the beaches around Barcelona. We were swimming nearby this bit of surviving architecture that was next to a surfing club although I'm not sure what it really used to be part of. It reminded me of some sort of fish, or a beached whale. Once I was back in London it happened that I watched the classic Yellow Submarine film and came up with this architectural psychedelia clip.

You can watch the animation here. 

Music: Fer by Plaid from Not For Threes

Central Tèrmica del Besòs

This image is a view from the train on the way to Badalona beach, over the Thermal Power Station in Sant Adrià del Besòs, that has now become an icon of the Barcelona skyline with its three chimneys. The way they are placed one next to the other, and the fact they're literally by the sea made me think of the conga line. The second image is a view from the beach towards Barcelona, with the industrial creature towering over it. 

A Catalan Weekend in London – Aftermath

It's been already a week since the Catalan weekend happened at Rich Mix. There was some delicious food and drinks that livened up the opening party and in turn made me feel homesick. But also, some interesting screenings like cinematographer Xavi Amoros's music video for Fyfe Dangerfield.

I very much enjoyed Mireia Ros's documentary 'Barcelona, abans que el temps ho esborri', about the golden age of Catalan bourgeoisie through the rise and fall of the Baladia family, the first to introduce the locomotive in Spain in mid XIX century. It helped me understand the past and in some ways the present of Barcelona and the Costa Brava, the coastal region of the North East of Catalonia.

Photos by Sin Fin Cinema. Artwork by Pau Ros and Lidia Casas.

A CATALAN WEEKEND IN LONDON

Here's the flyer of A CATALAN WEEKEND IN LONDON, the first instalment of a series of events exploring Spanish cultural identity and linguistic diversity curated by Sin Fin Cinema.

I am lucky to have been selected to represent Catalan new tendencies this weekend at Rich Mix. I will be exhibiting some of my architecture illustration and animation work together with established artists in the fields of photography, video and music, among others.

Catalonia is an autonomous region in the north-east of the Iberian Peninsula, roughly outlined by the Pyrenees, the Mediterranean Sea, and the regions of Aragon and Valencia which formerly were part of the Kingdom of Aragon. Its capital is Barcelona, the second largest city in Spain after Madrid and my hometown.

But that's in a very tiny nutshell. Come down to Rich Mix on the 1st and 2nd of June if you want to get a glimpse of the past, present and future of Catalonia. There's so much to know!

Check out the programme here.