Tough Elegance in the Raval

 My article on Josep Lluís Mateo's Filmoteca de Catalunya in Barcelona appears in the March issue of The Architectural Review.  

"The Film Archive ... is a cultural beachhead in the ongoing battle for Barcelona's Raval.... The urban strategy and material texture of [the building] are well-attuned to the Raval's tough character. While Richard Meier's gleaming Neo-Purist composition, located a few blocks north, couldn't be more alien, Mateo's building is built of board-formed concrete, whose rough texture he compares to nearby peeling walls...."

Screen Play
The Architectural Review

March 2012, pages 50 - 59

Photos:  © Adrià Goula
Courtesy of MateoArquitectura
 

 

True to my take on previous works by Mateo, I express some reservations about this project, notwithstanding its adroit urban pose: chiefly, the structural gymnastics employed for a raltively simple program of lobby, offices and library (the movie theaters are underground).

View from Filmoteca office floor towards plaza.