Balconies serve numerous functions, but more and more buildings are going up in Barcelona without them. While they may not be in danger of disappearing entirely, balconies are certainly threatened, according to as eminent an authority as Ramón Massaguer, the Ajuntament’s director of urban planning. “I’m a little pessimistic about the future of balconies here,” he told Metropolitan. “People greatly appreciate balconies, but the tendency among architects is not to put balconies on their buildings.”
Balconies soften the exterior space, and in a city like Barcelona the contrast is great between buildings that have them and those with angled, reflective glass surfaces. The latter seem to slice through the air, aggressively filling the space they occupy with corners and sharp lines. Nevertheless, say experts, glass-clad buildings with their straight edges and flat façades are cheaper to build, and often create a more efficient and profitable use of space. The 22@ district in Poblenou, for instance, is full of them.
David McKay is an English architect who has lived and worked here for 50 years. He and his Catalan partner Oriol Bohigas—their firm is MBM Arquitectes—are among the city’s most prestigious architects. “The glass buildings don’t really fit in, but it’s a cheap way of planning,” McKay told Metropolitan. “A lot of it has to do with salesmanship and the image of modernity. The office wants to be in tune with modern values and they need glass buildings. Also, a wall takes up space that they can’t sell—they’re selling useful inside space—so the narrower and thinner the outside walls are, the better economic return for the investor.
“It’s true that glass technology has advanced an enormous amount,” he added. “But here in the Mediterranean it’s a fight against the elements. If you put glass, you have to put special glass, and the special glass doesn’t give you the real light. The people inside are in tinted glass and can’t really see out.”
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