Port Fòrum

Written by Miquel Mallafré. -Translation: Marco Benevento. - Issue Nº 45

Marinas

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 A SPECTACULAR MARINA

The celebration of the Forum of Cultures 2004 was the ideal excuse for the town planning remodelling of good a part of the Barcelona coast line. An extension of almost 170 hectares, most of which are destined as public spaces, equipment and services, hotels, shopping centres, a reduced number of houses and this new sports marina with its with own personality.

 Port Fòrum Marina is one of the most modern leisure marinas in Europe and one of the very few that is more directly aimed to take in large lengths units. Its construction was the emblematic element of the large town planning improvements that took place with the celebration of the Barcelona 2004 Forum of Cultures. The incorporation of spectacular architectonic elements provides an unmistakable personality, like the photovoltaic solar panel or the metallic bridge that crosses over the marina.
In order to understand the creation of Port Fòrum Marina it is necessary to go back to the celebration of the Olympic Games of Barcelona in 1992. The Olympic Games served to redesign a large part of the marine front of Barcelona, creating new residential districts in places that until then where occupied by industries. The so called Olympic Villa was born, created to welcome the sportsmen during the Olympic Games and the Port, nowadays already saturated, that was the venue for the sailing competitions. However it was necessary to redesign the marine front of the Catalan capital towards the East, on the area adjacent with the municipality of Sant Adrià de Besós and to the mouth of the Besós river. Therefore an important town planning programme was developed that included the extension of the famous Diagonal avenue, that has that name because in fact it crosses all the city of Barcelona in that direction, to cover the large sewage treatment plant located at the mouth of the Besós river and other smaller aspects such as moving the Barcelona zoo, that nowadays is in the Parc of the Ciutadella, almost in the city centre.