The Sagrada Família of the workers, a nickname popularly given to the iconic Tres Xemeneies of Sant Adrià de Besòs, is increasingly closer to becoming the new temple of Catalan audiovisual. To make this ambitious project a reality, the Generalitat, the Besòs Consortium, the Terrassa City Council, and the Corporació Catalana de Mitjans Audiovisuals have signed a collaboration protocol, with the forecast that the works for Catalunya Media City can begin in the summer of 2026.
In this regard, the firm that has won the competition for the transformation of this old 22,600 square meter factory, which will become a new hub dedicated to audiovisual, video games, and digital culture, has also been announced. It is the Barcelona-based firm Garcés De Seta Bonet arquitectes and Marvel Architects, a New York studio, with their proposal E la nave va.
The proposal from these two firms will maintain the characteristic structure of the existing nave, with the turbine hall as the epicenter of the future Catalunya Media City. This building, owned by the Generalitat since 2023, will combine a space for training and a cultural and exhibition center that will disseminate the latest audiovisual and digital trends. With a total investment of 70.8 million euros, the forecast is that the works will begin in the summer of 2026 and are expected to last two years until the end of 2028.
The classrooms in this building will host between 2,000 and 2,500 students annually from intermediate and higher vocational training cycles, as well as university education at both undergraduate and master's or doctoral levels in the digital and audiovisual field. Among the classrooms, in the large vertical voids where the turbines were formerly located, vegetation will now take center stage.
On the other hand, the interior of this old factory will also host residency, research, and business support programs, in which both universities and companies will participate to accompany audiovisual production. In this sense, the space will feature a cutting-edge research center, incubation spaces, and coworking so that entrepreneurs in the audiovisual sector find a place to grow in this space.
Likewise, the building will also feature an open-plan experience and exhibition space of 5,600 square meters and 17 meters in height to showcase new forms of expression from the digital and audiovisual world. The winning proposal also includes a hall with capacity for a maximum of 4,000 people for immersive projections, e-sports, or new digital formats.
Finally, it will also house an event hall of 500 square meters with capacity for 250 people, an immersive room of 400 square meters, three sets, two recording studios, editing and meeting rooms, among other features. In addition to the turbine hall, the proposal also includes the construction of a new building that will extend the nave with a lobby and a large balcony overlooking the Badalona coastline.
Disused since 2011
Built as a Fecsa thermal power plant in the 70s, it was later acquired by Endesa, until it ceased its activity in 2011. Although the company's intention was to demolish this factory, local administrations and neighborhood associations fought to protect this building as a symbol of the industrial past of this area, and finally Endesa decided to cede the turbine hall to the Sant Adrià de Besòs City Council.
Thus, it remained disused for more than a decade, until the Consorci del Besòs approved the Urban Master Plan in 2023 with the Generalitat ---which became the owner of the turbine hall--- and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area. A plan that foresees the transformation of 32 hectares of this area and includes not only the future audiovisual hub, but also a large urban park of ten hectares and 185,000 square meters of housing.
In autumn 2024, the building opened to the general public for the first time in its history as the main venue for the Manifesta contemporary art biennial, an inauguration that already required a first phase of rehabilitation works to adapt the turbine hall. Now the building takes a new direction with the Catalunya Media City, a project that will be directly led by the Department of the Presidency, whereas until now it was in the hands of Culture.
During the presentation of the project, the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, considered that the new space "invites us to think big and represents an act of affirmation of Catalan identity, to project Catalonia to the world through an always pioneering and cutting-edge audiovisual industry."
In addition to the works on this old factory in Sant Adrià de Besòs, the other axis of the Catalunya Media City is the Audiovisual Park of Catalonia located in Terrassa, which has been in operation for two decades. A space that will also be expanded, with an investment of 13 million euros ---10 million of which are contributed by the Generalitat and three million by the Terrassa City Council---. Thus, new studios of 2,200 and 1,100 square meters will be built, works with a similar timeline to that of the Tres Xemeneies, as the forecast is that they will also begin in 2026 and end in 2028, a few months before the works in Sant Adrià de Besòs.