During the celebration of  MODEL. Festival de Arquitecturas de Barcelona, Eduardo Gutiérrez and Jordi Fernández (ON-A’s founders) talked at the “Tour with the Press” to explain the concept of the Parc Blau project which proposes to re-naturalize the port area of Barcelona and turn it into a large park that would connect the sea and the city.

The Parc Blau project portraits an opportunity to renaturalize the space of the port and turn it into a park. It proposes a new zone filled with life that allows citizens to enjoy it without eliminating the services based in this area. The festival promoted by the Municipality of Barcelona and the School of Architects of Catalonia (COAC) aims to transform the city into a space of reflection that helps us to rethink how we want to live together using new models of the city and new imaginaries.

Thanks to this research and reflection about the Port of Barcelona, ON-A has been invited to make an Augmented Reality intervention in the “MODEL: Festival of Architectures in Barcelona” with the theme “Between Species”. The chosen point has been the Columbus Statue and the festival’s participants will be able to see, from May 5th to 15th, the totally disruptive and utopian proposal of the Barcelona studio. Using AR technology, visitors will be able to visualize a large tree where the statue of Columbus stands, the intention of this is to reflect on how citizens should “colonize” public spaces to make them more habitable and greener. In this case, the symbolic Columbus monument, which commemorates past colonization, is transformed into a virtual tree that symbolizes this “new colonization”.

The tree is inspired by the holm oak, the most common tree in Catalonia, with approximately 100 meters of height and a large amount of vegetation and biodiversity. Around the trunk there will be a continuous ramp that will give access to all inhabitants of this new installation and its elevated platforms will allow everyone to enjoy the view of the city and the new port park.

The intervention will be visible from two points, one close to the statue, where the information totems and QR codes are, in that place the Augmented Reality Viewer can be found. The first point will be looking at the statue of Columbus from the Ramblas towards the Port, and the second one from Port towards the Ramblas.

Many thanks to the organization for the invitation and to all those who came to participate.

We hope to see you again in the next edition!

MODEL. Barcelona Architecture Festival
WHEN: from May 5th to 15th, 2022, from 08:00 to 23:59.
WHERE: Estàtua de Colom, Plaça Portal de la Pau, s/n, 08001 Barcelona.
THEME: Between-Species

More info: Colon-ising Port Vell

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