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DHUB Barcelona

Disseny Hub Barcelona

By Brian Gallagher 20.08.13

The official opening is scheduled for sometime in 2014 however little by little the Dhub institution is being integrated within the commercial and cultural life of the city. Rising like an unlikely phoenix from behind the metal barricades facing the Glories roundabout it is undoubtedly destined to become another icon on the city’s skyline defining 21st Century Barcelona.

Veteran Barcelona architects MBM are the authors of one of the most important cultural buildings of the last decade, in development since 2001 and consisting of 25,000 sq.m. (including 7,500 sq.m. of exhibition space). The building recently confirmed as the future headquarters of FAD, will also accommodate BCD (Barcelona Centre del Disseny) and four other museums currently in separate locations spread around the city; Decorative Arts, Textile and Clothing, Ceramic and Graphic Arts museums. Renowned for their modern vernacular buildings MBM is one of Spain’s most important architectural practices, originally founded in the 1950s and perhaps best known for its urban planning of Barcelona’s public squares during the 1980s and its master planning of the Olympic Village and design of the Port. The design of a building that revolves around design is a delicate balancing act; on the one hand it has to provide a neutral receptacle which can bring together all strands of its programme and on the other to express Barcelona’s ambitions of becoming a centre of design excellence. When complete Dhub will be one of the world’s largest design museums and one of the few specifically commissioned ones, its brief is not only to be a repository for design but also a catalyst for encounter and research into related issues given the economic and cultural benefits of the sector in the ever changing contemporary marketplace.  

  • © Lourdes Jansana

  • View of the south facing facade of DHUB

    Although the most visible part of the structure addresses the Plaça de les Glòries the vast majority of the building is in fact subterranean taking advantage of the drop in level between the plaza and the surrounding streetscape of Poblenou / 22@ neighbourhoods. Aligned with the contiguous C. Ávila a zinc clad cubic volume (resembling an oversized stapler) rises over the concrete ring road with a Cyclops-like aperture facing due west observing the uncertain future that hangs over the urban future of one of Barcelona’s most polemic public spaces. A complex knuckle of infrastructure and arterial confluence the space is both a fulcrum for the 19th Century Ildefons Cerdà’s master-plan as well as key element of the 21st Century 22@ Barcelona. The Torre Agbar (Jean Nouvel) and the Mercado de los Encants (b720) together with Dhub are key elements to its renewal, the planted rooftop and landscaped gardens providing the eastern boundary to the future park being designed by architect and urban planner Daniel Mòdol Deltell (B-Guided #52).      

    © Lourdes Jansana

  • Vertical circulation from main entrance to upper floor street entrance.

    The yin-yang nature of the upper and underworlds is reflected by the calm and introverted nature of the main gallery spaces spread over two basenment levels together with mezzanine that overlook a landscaped garden and reflecting water feature contrasted with the vertical circulation and observation deck, hall and auditorium accommodated within the sculpted upper volume. At their intersection the main public entrances from Plaça de les Glòries and the garden level coincide within a double height entrance lobby which at some future point will also connect with the Glòries underground station.  

    © Lourdes Jansana

  • View of the main exhibition space with the oversized rooflights and artificial lighting system.

    Internally the main exhibition space is dominated by 6 roof-light structures that collect light from the roof garden and deliver it deep within the second basement level through a series of aligned translucent glass surfaces within the polished concrete floors. The innovative lighting installation consisting of a series of led lighting tubes that can be programmed individually which contributes to the dynamic nature of the exhibition areas.  Glass, zinc and polished concrete dominated the palette of external materials while a future led screen on the upper north facing facade will project images of changing exhibitions and other graphic information to the wider city. The building’s sustainability credentials are as one would expect an important consideration; the reuse of rainwater, minimum water consumption, handling of natural daylight, use of solar collectors for hot water production, heat recovery systems, optimum air conditioning and incorporation of photovoltaic panels within the building fabric all contribute to the building’s energy efficiency.

    © Lourdes Jansana

  • Polychromatic led lighting system that can be programmed for different occasions

    © Lourdes Jansana

  • Relationship between the internal exhibition spaces and the landscaped exterior

    © Lourdes Jansana

  • View of the upper floor exhibition spaces with views towards the Glòries roundabou

    © Lourdes Jansana

  • © Lourdes Jansana

  • DHUB, Disseny Hub Barcelona
  • Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, 37
  • MBM Arquitectes
  • 2001-2014
  • www.dhub.cat