dhaa
17-05-2006, 13:25
One of the most impressive spaces to be found in BCN, a very careful and sensitive restoration and re-use of a 19 century infrastructure building.
The Dipòsit de les Aigües (Water deposit) was designed in 1874 by the architect Josep Fontserè, as a reservoir building to store water for the waterworks in the nearby Parc de la Ciutadella.[/I] Which is sort of a central city park created in the 19th century after the demolition of the huge baroque fortress "Ciutadella". Worth visiting as well especially on Sundays when there are crowds of people hanging around, picknicking, juggling, reading, drinking, playing table tennis or whatever. There's also a zoo.
Fontserè designed a structure with walls a metre thick, which supported arches four metres wide. In keeping with tradition, he perforated the walls in order to reduce the quantity of building materials and labour required. These openings run the height of the walls and are crowned with arches, causing the partitions in the walls to look rather like a series of independent pillars. The building is similar to that found in large Roman reservoirs, being practically identical to that of the impressive Piscina Mirabile in Bocoli, near Naples.
There is, however, one important difference between the two buildings: the water for the Piscina Mirabile was stored below the arches and thus the structure had to sustain only its own weight. However, Fontserè designed the arches of the Dipòsit de les Aigües to hold 10,000 tons of water at a height of 17.5 metres above the level of the floor.
Soon after the infrastructure of the city center got modernized and a new water distribution system was introduced, this building was no longer needed for it's original purpose. Until the 80's the building had been used for various things which gradually stuffed the magnificient space with partitions and additions. In 1992 it was decided to convert the space into the main library of the neighbouring UPF. The architects, Lluis Clotet and Ignasi Paricio made two radical changes:
Firstly they cleaned out the whole space from all the crap gathered during the previous periods and revealed the original bare brickwork structure. They added very few volumes or rather pieces of furniture just enough to fulfill the needs of the library. The contact of this addition with the pillars is minimal and the great full-height space has remained the main reading room with an incredible atmosphere.
Secondly: The original Dipòsit de les Aigües reservoir had a depth of 4.25 m and contained up to 3 m of water. This has now been replaced by a sheet of water which is level with the perimeter circulation route, with a depth of 1 m. Beneath this is an accessible space with a height of 3.4 m, divided by the extensively perforated partitions which support the sheet of water.
Although the volume of water has been reduced, the exterior image is still that of a building topped by an artificial lake on which people can go rowing above the city of Barcelona. At the same time, the interior space beneath the sheet of water makes it possible to detect and fix possible leaks without these damaging the hall.
It was intended that the roof lake would become a public space. Well you can access it. I had luck cos I was there. I was even in the inbetween space bellow the bottom of the lake which is also incredible. But you have to know people to get there. Generally it's not a public space.
address:
Biblioteca General
Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
08005 Barcelona
the access is through the main entrance to the university in the neighbouring block. I'll explain that later on some scheme.
phone: 93 542 17 09
email: general.biblioteca@upf.edu
web: http://www.upf.edu/bib/index.shtml
opening hours
Mondays - Fridays 8.00 to 1.30 h (at night!)
Saturdays & Feasts 10.00 to 21.00
Getting there by metro: L4 (yellow line), get off at Ciutadella - Villa Olímpica
or by tram T4: either the end stop Ciutadella Villa Olímpica or the previous, Wellington, which is right in front of the building, but the entrance is somewhere else as mentioned above. You can take this tram from Glòries after visiting Torre Agbar by Nouvel and the Auditorium by Moneo. Or even straight from Fòrum. It´s like 5 minutes.
more details and info about the history of the building (http://www.upf.edu/bib/coneixer/publicac/liber/liber.htm)
The Dipòsit de les Aigües (Water deposit) was designed in 1874 by the architect Josep Fontserè, as a reservoir building to store water for the waterworks in the nearby Parc de la Ciutadella.[/I] Which is sort of a central city park created in the 19th century after the demolition of the huge baroque fortress "Ciutadella". Worth visiting as well especially on Sundays when there are crowds of people hanging around, picknicking, juggling, reading, drinking, playing table tennis or whatever. There's also a zoo.
Fontserè designed a structure with walls a metre thick, which supported arches four metres wide. In keeping with tradition, he perforated the walls in order to reduce the quantity of building materials and labour required. These openings run the height of the walls and are crowned with arches, causing the partitions in the walls to look rather like a series of independent pillars. The building is similar to that found in large Roman reservoirs, being practically identical to that of the impressive Piscina Mirabile in Bocoli, near Naples.
There is, however, one important difference between the two buildings: the water for the Piscina Mirabile was stored below the arches and thus the structure had to sustain only its own weight. However, Fontserè designed the arches of the Dipòsit de les Aigües to hold 10,000 tons of water at a height of 17.5 metres above the level of the floor.
Soon after the infrastructure of the city center got modernized and a new water distribution system was introduced, this building was no longer needed for it's original purpose. Until the 80's the building had been used for various things which gradually stuffed the magnificient space with partitions and additions. In 1992 it was decided to convert the space into the main library of the neighbouring UPF. The architects, Lluis Clotet and Ignasi Paricio made two radical changes:
Firstly they cleaned out the whole space from all the crap gathered during the previous periods and revealed the original bare brickwork structure. They added very few volumes or rather pieces of furniture just enough to fulfill the needs of the library. The contact of this addition with the pillars is minimal and the great full-height space has remained the main reading room with an incredible atmosphere.
Secondly: The original Dipòsit de les Aigües reservoir had a depth of 4.25 m and contained up to 3 m of water. This has now been replaced by a sheet of water which is level with the perimeter circulation route, with a depth of 1 m. Beneath this is an accessible space with a height of 3.4 m, divided by the extensively perforated partitions which support the sheet of water.
Although the volume of water has been reduced, the exterior image is still that of a building topped by an artificial lake on which people can go rowing above the city of Barcelona. At the same time, the interior space beneath the sheet of water makes it possible to detect and fix possible leaks without these damaging the hall.
It was intended that the roof lake would become a public space. Well you can access it. I had luck cos I was there. I was even in the inbetween space bellow the bottom of the lake which is also incredible. But you have to know people to get there. Generally it's not a public space.
address:
Biblioteca General
Ramon Trias Fargas, 25-27
08005 Barcelona
the access is through the main entrance to the university in the neighbouring block. I'll explain that later on some scheme.
phone: 93 542 17 09
email: general.biblioteca@upf.edu
web: http://www.upf.edu/bib/index.shtml
opening hours
Mondays - Fridays 8.00 to 1.30 h (at night!)
Saturdays & Feasts 10.00 to 21.00
Getting there by metro: L4 (yellow line), get off at Ciutadella - Villa Olímpica
or by tram T4: either the end stop Ciutadella Villa Olímpica or the previous, Wellington, which is right in front of the building, but the entrance is somewhere else as mentioned above. You can take this tram from Glòries after visiting Torre Agbar by Nouvel and the Auditorium by Moneo. Or even straight from Fòrum. It´s like 5 minutes.
more details and info about the history of the building (http://www.upf.edu/bib/coneixer/publicac/liber/liber.htm)