Pavilion & Garden in Montjuïc, Barcelona by Fondarius Architecture
Pavilion & Garden in Montjuïc, Barcelona is build by Fondarius Architecture. The design connects with the styling of other modern bars and restaurants in the area: eclectic and informally elegant. The detailing, though, was inspired by an older ‘modern’ building and another major Montjuic attraction: Mies van der Rohe’s Barcelona pavilion.
The architects took into account the two completely different ‘faces’ of the site they had to redefine. They turned the higher panoramic level into a maritime deck with a little bar overlooking the Mediterranean and the port, while the lower area is now an intimate garden (with bamboo, of course), between the rear facade of the restaurant and the rocky ‘retaining wall’ of the hill.
The ambivalence of the genius loci (‘high up on the mountain’ or ‘in the shelter of the slopes’) is reflected by the tectonics of the used materials: the light steel and glass construction of the bar and the teak wood of the platform relate to the sea and the sky while the slate stone of the walls and the square platforms in the garden breathe earthly solidity.
