La Vila Olímpica del Poblenou or La Villa Olímpica (The Olympic Village of Poblenou) is a neighborhood in the Sant Martí district of

Barcelona Barcelona ( ; ; ) is a city on the northeastern coast of Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second-most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalonia Catalonia is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a ''nationalities and regions of Spain, nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy of Catalonia of 2006, Statute of Autonomy. Most of its territory (except the Val d'Aran) is situate ...

(

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

). It was constructed in the late 1980s and early 1990s for the 1992 Summer Olympic Games which took place in Barcelona. Its construction was devised by Oriol Bohigas, David Mackay, and Albert Puigdomènec as a residential area in the otherwise industrial and

working-class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

district of Poblenou, which underwent regeneration but involved massive

expropriation Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...

, as well as the destruction of a sizeable portion of the district, including

Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution, sometimes divided into the First Industrial Revolution and Second Industrial Revolution, was a transitional period of the global economy toward more widespread, efficient and stable manufacturing processes, succee ...

factories of architectural value such as Fàbrica Foret. It follows essentially the reticular outline of

Eixample The Eixample (, ) is a district of Barcelona between the old city (Ciutat Vella) and what were once surrounding small towns (Sants, Gràcia, Sant Andreu, etc.), constructed in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Its population was 262,000 at ...

and Poblenou, with about 2000 new apartments in the area, owned by the mixed public-private company VOSA (Vila Olímpica Societat Anònima).

Education

The main campus of Universitat Pompeu Fabra is located between Parc de la Ciutadella and this neighbourhood. The buildings are former barracks which underwent restoration simultaneously with the construction of Vila Olímpica.

Architecture

The Port Olímpic de Barcelona is located in this neighborhood. The buildings in Vila Olímpica were designed by a number of winners of the FAD Award. The area includes the high rises Hotel Arts and Torre Mapfre, both of which are 154 m tall and were built in 1992. The Torre Mapfre is located in this neighborhood, while the Hotel Arts, the Casino Barcelona and the ''Peix d'Or'' (

goldfish The goldfish (''Carassius auratus'') is a freshwater fish in the family Cyprinidae of the order Cypriniformes. It is commonly kept as a pet in indoor aquariums, and is one of the most popular aquarium fish. Goldfish released into the w ...

), a large metal sculpture designed by

Frank Gehry Frank Owen Gehry ( ; ; born February 28, 1929) is a Canadian-American architect and designer. A number of his buildings, including his private residence in Santa Monica, California, have become attractions. Gehry rose to prominence in th ...

, are located at one edge of the Barceloneta neighborhood, close to the border with the Vila Olímpica del Poblenou. File:2007-02-05-barcelona-by-RalfR-60.jpg, Parc of the Port Olímpic de Barcelona, a park located in this neighbourhood File:Barcelona Frank Gehrys Peix.jpg, ''El Peix'' (1992) by

, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta

Transport

Barcelona Metro The Barcelona Metro (Catalan language, Catalan and Spanish language, Spanish: ) is a rapid transit network that runs mostly underground in central Barcelona and into the city's suburbs. It is part of the larger public transport system ...

stations Vila Olímpica and Bogatell, both on line L4 * Trambesòs tram stops Ciutadella Vila Olímpica (connection with Barcelona Metro) and Wellington

References

Bibliography

*Francesc Xavier Hernàndez i Cardona, ''Barcelona, història d'una ciutat.'' Llibres de l'Índex, Barcelona, 2001. {{DEFAULTSORT:Vila Olimpica del Poblenou, la Neighbourhoods of Barcelona Sant Martí (district)

Education

Architecture

Transport

See also

References

Bibliography