Barcelona Royal Shipyard

Barcelona Royal Shipyard

Across from the royal palace and surround by magnificent buildings, The Barcelona Royal Shipyard doesn’t stand out amongst its context except by its size. It doesn’t really have its own singular vocabulary. Over time, the building has changed dramatically and has served several purposes. That’s one of the reasons why I chose to talk about it. From the outside, it blends in using an ordinary looking stone. The window cut outs are scattered and non-uniform. And the size and plan shape of the building make it hard to decipher. It blends 13^th century stone construction with 21^st century glass. Its lines aren’t even and it appears dissimilar from different directions. As you walk up closer to it, it begins to reveal its true scale, but until you walk into it you don’t realize how big it really is. This building is unique because of its program not because of its place. It has existed for over 700 years because of its versatility, simplicity, and strength.

The Barcelona Royal Shipyard was built as a dry-dock for producing war ships. The original complex was situated beside the sea to allow water to flood the building using locks. It only becomes apparent when you walk inside how the building actually operated. The plan is arranged in a series of lanes, each with a lower level (presumably for flooding), and a higher level (possibly a platform for constructing the boats). The lanes are huge – about 200ft long, and as wide as 60ft or more. Since its days as a shipbuilding factory, the complex has been refitted into a Museum. The museum that occupies the building today gives it the modern features that at first appear alien to the structure – modern steel frames and large glass window panes.

The building has had a profound impact on Barcelona as far as history is concerned just because its program was dedicated to the cities defense. Over time it’s unclear whether the building affected the people of Barcelona more than the city has affected it. The building was eventually re- purposed and where the building once touched the edge of the water now stands a busy highway between it and a government building. The fact that is now landlocked forever suggests that it will never again serve its original purpose. And perhaps once the museum wares out its presence it will become something else. That’s what is most remarkable about this building though. Its size doesn’t limit it to a specific program, and its structure is timeless and simple. It has fulfilled its original purpose and will live on to see many more centuries because it does what it was designed to do. Its beauty doesn’t lie in decorations or fancy details. It is a durable and flexible workhorse of a building.