The Barcelona Pavilion - Update

Less than a day after publishing my appreciation of Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona Pavilion I decided to follow the Twitter feed of The Fundació Mies van der Rohe.

Right away came the announcement of the latest installation (or intervention) to which the pavilion would play host.

Here is a link to details of the competition which Spanish architect Luis Martínez Santa-María has just won.

And here is how the ‘Fear of Columns’ jury explained their decision:

“The jury particularly valued the compelling nature of the winning entry, which encapsulates the vertical component of the pre-existing columns in contrast to the horizontality of the Pavilion. The project denotes an absolutely contemporary approach marked by awareness of the environment and the need to permanently reutilise resources. At the same time, it expresses the provisional character of an ephemeral installation temporarily affixed to the Pavilion.”

These are a couple of English websites which tell the story. Both are on-line publishers of magazines on design and architecture… bustler and dezeen.

There you have it. If you are in Barcelona for any of the five months after the 1st of June you will not only see the glorious work of Mies van der Rohe but also decide how much the latest addition complements his design.

We will not return so soon. But do watch out in ten years’ time when I post photographs of this building in its completed state!