Jury chooses finalists for Espai Barça architectural contest

Jury chooses finalists for Espai Barça architectural contest

The second phase of the selection process begins with eight teams, formed on the whole by an international studio and a local one, who will present their proposals for the New Camp Nou, and six others for the New Palau Blaugrana

The Espai Barça continues to move forward. The competition for architectural projects for the construction of the New Camp Nou and the New Palau Blaugrana has moved into its second phase with the announcement of the list of finalists. The jury has chosen eight teams, the majority of whom are formed by an international studio and a local one and who will prepare their architectural proposals for the football stadium and one, and another six teams who will do the same for the New Palau, based on recommendations made by the technical commission, made up of the Espai Barça team and two architects representing the College of Catalan Architects (COAC).

The Espai Barça jury, as the Board of Directors announced on Monday, is formed by five members from the Club, three members from the COAC and one member from Barcelona CIty Council. The representatives from FC Barcelona are Josep Maria Bartomeu, Susana Monje, Jordi Moix, Emili Rousaud and the architect Juan Pablo Mitjans. The members from COAC are Lluís Comerón and the architects Arcadi Pla and Joan Forgas whilst the member from the City Council is Aurora López, City Director of Urban Planning.

The finalists will receive this evening all the necessary technical information for the carrying out of their projects, the regulations, criteria and technical documentation from the Espai Barça team. The studios will have until the end of the year to hand in their proposals. In the case of the competition for New Camp Nou, the teams will have three months and in the case of the New Palau, two and a half months. After a technical examination of the proposals presented according to the criteria established in the regulations for the second phase and the final selection of the candidates by the technical committee, the jury will announce the winning projects.

Statement from President Josep Maria Bartomeu:

"Today we have taken one step further in the development of the Espai Barça which the members voted for in a referendum. We began a few months ago with the awarding of Miniestadi project, which is already underway, and now the jury has gathered to choose the finalists — eight teams of architects for the New Camp Nou and six for the New Palau Blaugrana. It was hard work, we reviewed many documents and many proposals, and I think we made a good choice and I am very grateful to the jury their work. It is an independent jury, with experts in the world of architecture, engineering, construction, and thanks to them we can say that we are now starting this second phase, which is very important to the Espai Barça. We are very satisfied with the level of studies presented and we believe that those chosen include many of the best firms in the world that do this kind of sports architecture and in time we will see the fruits. Now we have to wait a few months to see the finalists' proposals and reconvene the jury."

Statement from Director Jordi Moix:

"The jury analysed studies from the technical committee and evaluated the 45 firms that made proposals for the Stadium and the Palau and, following the criteria outlined in the tender, the looked mainly at experience in these types of facilities, both stadiums and arenas; the teams got together along with thetechnical consultants who were experts in structures, facilities, roofs that collaborated with the candidates. We then chose the eight teams for Camp Nou and six for the Palau that we thought we could work with under theconditions that were outlined. Now, in this second phase, the finalists will work during the next three months according to the requirements that we set forth, from a construction, volume and operations point of view, and they'll develop their projects. At the end of the year we'll take a look at the projects and choose two winning proposals."

The finalists

For the New Camp Nou:

-       AECOM + B720 ARQUITECTES

-       ARUP SPORT + TALLER D’ARQUITECTURA R. BOFILL

-       BIG + IDOM + BAAS ARQUITECTES

-       GENSLER SPORT + OAB

-       HKS + COX + BATLLE I ROIG ARQUITECTES

-       AFL + MATEO ARQUITECTURA

-       NIKKEN SEKKEI + PASCUAL I AUSIÓ ARQUITECTES

-       POPULOUS + MIAS ARQUITECTES + RCR ARQUITECTES

For the New Palau Blaugrana:

-       DOMINIQUE PERRAULT ARCHITETURE + MASSIP-BOSCH ARQUITECTES

-       GMP + GCA ARQUITECTES

-       HOK + TAC ARQUITECTES

-       MAKE + BCQ ARQUITECTES

-       MANGADO ARQUITECTOS + BACH ARQUITECTES + R. SANABRIA ARQUITECTES + I. PARICIO

-       WILKINSON EYRE ARCHITECTS + ALONSO BALAGUER RIERA ARQUITECTES

Força Barça
Força Barça

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