Port Vell will complete its second major transformation in the coming years. It was perhaps the most emblematic project after the 1992 Games. The Moll d'Espanya became a large leisure area thanks to the concentration of Maremàgnum, the Aquàrium, and the Imax cinema. Now, the complex faces another era with a second venue for the Gran Teatre del Liceu, which will be the new cultural engine for the area. The Moll de Barcelona, presided over by the World Trade Center, is also undergoing a profound transformation, and now wants to open up to citizens after decades of being dedicated to business and distanced from the city.
Interested architectural firms are already working on architectural and urban proposals for the new Moll d'Espanya, after the Liceu launched the ideas competition in mid-July. This goes beyond the architectural project for the opera's second venue. It also calls for an urban, access, and environmental solution that addresses the shortcomings and errors of the design from 30 years ago.
Much is expected from the fact that the new Liceu will be located at the center of the board of this leisure complex. The idea of the theater opening a second venue in the port emerged four years ago. And it is that opera and the sea dialogue very well. There is the example of Sydney. Also Copenhagen, Hamburg, and Port Said, the Egyptian city on the Suez Canal. In all of them, the silhouette of these lyric theaters dialogues very well with their corresponding port landscape.
Liceu Mar will partly occupy the site of the old Imax cinema. Already in its day, the then candidate for mayor of Barcelona Miquel Roca included its demolition in his electoral program, as he considered it a mistake to re-erect an obstacle to the view of the port docks that had been achieved after the demolition of the Barceloneta sheds. Roca was undoubtedly right, but he overlooked that the Imax and other elements of the Moll d'Espanya appeared at a time of post-Olympic euphoria, in which citizens enthusiastically welcomed the new spaces that the city was conquering.
Time, however, has proven right those who advocated for the disappearance of the Imax. Already in its day, the multiplex cinemas associated with Maremàgnum were demolished, which has also shifted its commercial and gastronomic offerings to re-attract its initial audience. Only time will tell if the new strategy is successful.
Before the Moll d'Espanya, the Moll de la Fusta was recovered for citizen use, and then, in 1999, came the Moll de Barcelona and its World Trade Center business complex, whose big problem since then has been that it has turned its back on the citizens of Barcelona. Now, the port authorities are also trying to reorient this strategy. The first measure was to redesign the central square a year ago and, more recently, to begin freeing up the docks for boat mooring operations.
Although there is still some activity for port operations, the rest of the docks have already been opened to the public, awaiting a new walkway to connect the Moll de Barcelona with the Portal de la Pau. It is also hoped that a restaurant activity will be developed on these docks to attract customers. However, the gastronomic establishments of the World Trade Center are going through a period of crisis due to teleworking. Until the pandemic, they were sustained by office staff. Now, new habits and the fact that work for several days of the week is done from home has reduced customers for these establishments, which are reluctant to expand their activity to the outer perimeter of the complex. The managers of the Barcelona business center are considering a program of activities to help attract the public.
While waiting for this new strategy to bear fruit or not, the disappearance of the fences and the opening of access points already make the new spaces of the Moll de Barcelona visible. Right now they are a kind of wasteland. There is a lack of shaded areas and some kind of stable activity that brings the city closer. For now, the potential of the new spaces can be appreciated.
In short, the Moll d'Espanya and the Moll de Barcelona are facing the second transformation of the Port Vell. Their consolidation or not will be at least a middle-distance race in which investment will be necessary. In any case, new mistakes like the Imax must be avoided.