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World Trade Center and Grand Marina Hotel

Barcelona, Spain
Completed 1999, Hotel completed 2002

An 8-hectare mixed-use waterfront development
 

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The World Trade Center at the tip of the 500m-long Moll de Barcelona is the economic generator of this project, its major contribution being the public spaces that link the wharf to its urban setting. The complex was designed to maintain the silhouette of waterfront landmarks against the sky while providing a boldly emblematic building appropriate to its location at the very heart of the city's old port.

In solution, the project is fragmented into four curved buildings framing public spaces. The three-part Trade Center is grouped around an interlocking arrival forecourt, inner courtyard with perimeter retail arcades, and elevated central patio. The Trade Center is complemented on the fourth side by the newly completed Grand Marina Hotel. Beyond this lies the wharf's own Ramblas, a tree-lined promenade that links the complex with the larger port and surrounding city.

The Trade Center has two ground levels: a pier level for vehicular circulation, ferry access, passenger terminal entries, office lobbies and retail; and a second (gangway) level which, echoing local tradition, provides a piano nobile with Central Patio, surrounded here by passenger halls giving access to the ships and support spaces.  A raised, covered walkway edging the pier on both sides connects the ferry terminals at the beginning of the pier with those at the base of the Trade Center. This linking structure, defining the pier and symbolizing its function, serves in off-hours as a public promenade overlooking the old port.

Major Components

4-part building complex (3 parts: Trade Center, 1 part: 325-room Grand Marina Hotel) with offices, large conference center, accessory commercial space, all organized around a central patio animated by dancing waters;  ferry and cruise ship terminals; below-surface parking for 1,000 cars

Pei Cobb Freed & Partners services

Complete Architectural Services

Architect of Record

Rafael de Cáceres Zurita (Cruise Ship Terminals)

Structural

Leslie E. Robertson Associates, New York, NY;
MC-2 Estudio de Ingenieria, Madrid; and
IOC Ingeniería de Obra Civil, Barcelona

Mechanical / Electrical

Cosentini Associates LLP, New York, NY;
J.G. & Asociados S.A., Barcelona; and
IMOGEP S.A., Lleida, Spain

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