For decades, Sant Adrià de Besòs has been marked by its industrial past. The factories, with the Tres Xemeneies (Three Chimneys) as its most iconic landmark —visible from a large part of the metropolitan coastline—, have defined the image of a city that, despite bordering Barcelona has often been relegated to its shadow. This narrative, however, is about to change. In the coming years, Sant Adrià will face one of the most ambitious urban transformations in the metropolitan area, with projects that will change not only its urban planning, but also its economic landscape and even its relationship with the sea.
The arrival of the fashion group Inditex is one of the most visible examples. The company founded by Amancio Ortega will relocate part of its headquarters to Sant Adriàs until now located in Tordera— for four of its brands (Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho, and Lefties), in a new campus of more than 164,000 square meters. Just a few metres away, the Tres Xemeneies —unused since 2011, when Endesa ceased operations at the thermal power plant— will become the headquarters of Catalunya Media City, the future hub dedicated to training, research, and the production of audiovisual, digital and video game content. The rehabilitation of the old thermal power plant, which will shape this new facility, is scheduled to begin this year with the aim that the complex is expected to open in 2028.
The arrival of Inditex and the future Catalunya Media City account for much of the transformation that Sant Adrià will experience. But to truly understand the future of the Tres Xemeneies, one must also look beyond the turbine hall. Because, while the focus has been on the rehabilitation of its interior, a profound transformation is also taking shape on its exterior. The nearly 90,000 square meters surrounding the old thermal power plant will become a coastal park designed to adapt this stretch of coast to the effects of climate change.
To shape this transformation, the Besòs Consortium launched an international architecture competition. The winning proposal, named Green and Blue: resilient infrastructures and with an estimated budget of 13.7 million euros, is the work of LANDLAB, a landscape studio based in Sant Cugat del Vallès; Aldayjover, a Barcelona architecture firm specializing in urban planning and landscape; and the engineering company Aquàtica.
For decades, this stretch of coast was occupied by the Tres Xemeneies thermal power plant and other industrial facilities that completely transformed the coastline. Now, that the area is now leaving its industrial past behind. After years of environmental recovery work, which has also involved the decontamination of the old industrial lands and the nearest beach —a process that is still ongoing in some parts of the coastline—, this space will begin to recover part of its natural character. Where concrete and industrial infrastructures once predominated, the project aims to incorporate native coastal vegetation and create new habitats that favor the return of animal and plant biodiversity.
But the proposal goes much further than creating a park with trees and spaces for walking. Inspired by the landscapes that formerly characterized the mouth of the Besòs —before industrialization profoundly transformed the coastline— it will recover dunes, lagoons, Mediterranean pine forests, and floodable meadows. These natural elements, however, will not only have a decorative function, but a practical one: “to be capable of responding to fluvial and maritime storms,” as LANDLAB defends in the project description.
Thus, the dunes will act as a natural barrier against maritime storms; the lagoons and floodable areas will help retain water during intense rain episodes so that the land can absorb it gradually; and, finally, the new vegetation will create shaded spaces, reduce heat, and favor the return of biodiversity.
The future of the coastline is also drawn in classrooms
But the idea of using the landscape as a tool to adapt to climate change —one of the principles that define the winning project for the coastal park— does not end with the proposal. The Tres Xemeneies and its surroundings have also become a case study for a new generation of architecture and design students, who take them as a starting point to imagine new ways of adapting cities to climate change.
One of them is Laura Sun, an Elisava student, who in her final degree project, Node. From resilient landscape to Land Art, proposes a new way of understanding this space. The project, tutored by Daria de Seta —architect at Garcés de Seta Bonet, one of the firms responsible for the rehabilitation of the turbine hall along with Marvel Architects—, was selected to be part of the university's Grad Showcase, which compiles the most outstanding final degree projects from each graduating class.
“Les Tres Xemeneies present a totally different landscape depending on the time of year you visit them. I remember the first time I went it was winter and several storms had just passed: everything was flooded. In contrast, in summer it looks like an almost desert-like landscape,” recalls Sun. Those first visits made her understand that floods and landscape changes were not an anomaly, but a characteristic feature of this landscape bordering Les Tres Xemeneies. From there, she began to consider how architecture and landscape could adapt to these conditions, especially considering that these extreme climatic episodes will become increasingly frequent due to climate change.
Sun was clear, however, that “I didn't want to create an artificial landscape or impose a new form, but I was interested in creating the conditions for nature itself to reclaim its space.” An idea that connects with one of the principles of the winning project for the future coastal park: to take advantage of natural processes to adapt this stretch of coast to the effects of climate change.
In her case, the need to create resilient spaces to climate change also blended with childhood memories. Born in southwest China, Sun took as a reference the terraced rice plantations that characterize many areas of Southeast Asia to design a stepped coastline in front of Les Tres Xemeneies. The result is a network of elevated wooden walkways that connect the turbine hall —where the future Catalunya Media City will be located— with the sea, designed for people to stroll along.
Designed so that people working inside or living in the surroundings can traverse this space, the walkways are located at different levels and allow vegetation to grow freely beneath and around them. In addition, they incorporate openings through which trees can protrude, creating shaded areas along the route. The structures are also conceived to coexist with floods: "if a storm damages them, they can be easily replaced without altering the landscape," she defends.
Thus, rather than preventing the sea or rain from temporarily occupying this space, the proposal assumes that this will happen more and more often. For this reason, Sun designs a landscape that can be flooded, transformed, and recovered without losing its function or its biodiversity.
Although Sun's proposal will not be the one to transform the Tres Xemeneies coastline, it shares the same philosophy as the winning project. Both start from the idea that the landscape should not fight against water, but rather coexist with it. It is no coincidence that the proposal by LANDLAB, Aldayjover, and Aquàtica also incorporates an elevated promenade, located about five and a half meters above sea level, which will act as a barrier against possible floods. In addition to connecting the different spaces of the future park, this infrastructure will help protect the coastline from storms and rising sea levels.
Although the transformation of the coastline is one of the least visible pieces of this great change, it is not the only one. Around this new hub, a new urban piece is also being drawn: the Urban Master Plan foresees the construction of more than 1,700 homes —40% of which will be publicly protected—, the urbanization of nearly 183,000 square meters of public space, and the arrival of the Trambesòs to the Port of Badalona, with two new stations that will reinforce metropolitan connection.
In its entirety, then, the transformation of the Tres Xemeneies area is a much broader project than a new hub for audiovisuals or the recovery of an iconic building. It is an ambitious urban operation that aims to rethink the relationship between city, economic activity, and landscape, converting an area for decades linked to industry into one of the new urban axes of Sant Adrià de Besòs. A city that, after years in the shadow of large metropolitan projects, now faces a great metamorphosis.