The Glòries square has finally found its place in Barcelona. The park that for some months now has filled this space and various facilities have turned it into a true central area, and it has definitively ceased to be a non-place. Glòries is today a wide expanse equivalent to about six blocks of the Eixample that offers corners for rest and activities and, furthermore, has managed to articulate effective communication with the neighborhoods on its perimeter.
When Ildefons Cerdà designed his plan for the Eixample, he thought that Glòries would be the center of the new Barcelona. If one contemplates the old plans drawn by the engineer from Centelles, the quality of this space as a center was marked by being the intersection point of three of the great communication routes that cross the city and break the grid layout and perpendicular streets of the Eixample. These are Gran Via, Diagonal, and Meridiana, the main entrances and exits of Barcelona that connect it with the country's road network.
It is precisely its condition as a crossroads of major arteries that has prevented it from being a friendly place for decades, and has fueled it being an inhospitable point that grew as the car took over the city. There was a time when the way ordinary citizens had to navigate Glòries was by aerial pedestrian walkways. I had to cross them on some occasions to go from Gran Via to Meridiana, and I remember they were chaotic and very poorly signposted. The first time I did it, back in the seventies, I had the feeling of reaching Meridiana almost by chance.
Later, during the great Olympic transformation stage, a drum-shaped road ring was built, which was intended to be used as a deterrent parking lot for those coming from outside Barcelona. It had very minority use. In the center of the drum, gardens were installed that did not invite enjoyment at all. It remained an inhospitable non-place.
Finally, it was decided to demolish the drum and make Gran Via pass underneath. It has been an extremely complicated work, as a subsoil with a large number of services had to be crossed. Multiple technical, budgetary problems and doubts have delayed the work for decades. It has not been until a few months ago that this urban battle has been won.
When one emerges to the surface from the subway, one realizes the great change this space has undergone. Right away, one encounters some architectural references, such as Jean Nouvel's Torre Glòries and the Museu del Disseny, that stapler-shaped building that was one of the last works by Oriol Bohigas and his architecture firm with his partners Josep Maria Martorell and David Mackay.
The park invites strolling. Not even the tram tracks beach prevents it, because it has been very well integrated into the landscape. There are shaded areas and unique elements, such as a circular central pergola and the so-called Clariana, an oval lawn esplanade where one can relax and even participate in some activities. A curiosity: access to the lawn area is done each day through a different entrance. A sign explains that this measure is not arbitrary, but is based on criteria that guarantee its sustainability and maintenance. And, in case of rain, it closes.
It is worth noting the furniture, which breaks the design uniformity one is accustomed to. There are lounger-shaped seats, perfect for reading. Some tall chairs, like those of lifeguards, with a ladder included, are surprising, and, of course, are the favorites of the little ones, who also have a great time in a play area that includes a mountain of slides.
One also encounters a strange monument that recalls an episode of great historical importance. And it is that, in the 18th century, Barcelona was one of the cities chosen by French scientists to determine the length of the meter. This universal unit of measurement was fixed as the ten-millionth part of the Meridian quadrant, but measuring that quadrant was pending. For this, it was chosen to calculate the length of the arc between Dunkirk and Barcelona.
Thus, the astronomer and geographer Pierre Méchain moved to Barcelona and, through a triangulation system, provided a good part of the data that finally allowed determining the measure of the meridian quadrant and, therefore, of the meter. The monument, which spent a few years exiled on Meridiana Avenue, represents the profile between Dunkirk and Barcelona.
The design of the new Glòries now facilitates access to facilities such as the Mecat dels Encants, the shopping center now called Westfield, and other places of interest in the area of influence. It is no longer an inhospitable space. It can be said that, finally, Barcelona has resolved the Glòries scalextric, pending since Cerdà drew it.