At the former Gustavo Gili publishing house you can travel to the Barcelona of times gone by in the exhibition “Hard Lines” open to the public from February 3 to July 2, 2023.
You will be able to appreciate the buildings, design and urban planning of the city between 1949 and 1974, with the organization of the Centre Obert d’Arquitectura, COAC, and the City Council of Barcelona.
The exhibition will allow you to discover how were the most emblematic buildings of the Catalan capital as well as its streets.
During those times, innovative architectural proposals were made that, at the time, broke with the artistic trends of the time, which were called “Hard Lines”.
Hard Lines: the chronology of the city’s architecture
The exhibition consists of 29 case studies arranged chronologically from texts, documents and images with which the cases were reconstructed.
These documentary supports leave evidence from the competition “Vivienda económica en Barcelona 1949”, to the publication of Contra Pla de la Ribera in 1974.
It will be the best opportunity to see the initial projects of constructions such as the Barcelona Football Club Stadium or the apartments in the gulfs of La Pedrera.
It is also possible to tour the five rooms of the Gustavo Gili publishing house to discover the original shape of the building.
At the end of the tour, you can enjoy a compilation of images that Francesc Català-Roca took of the building during its construction and opening.
The images are a set of numerous snapshots by the same author that are also part of each case study. More than a hundred photographs are part of this historical and vital record of the architecture and urbanism of the city.
The exhibition is free of charge and is open from Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am to 8 pm.
Antiga Seu Editorial Gustavo Gili: Rosselló, 87-89
Some history of the Hard Lines
It all happened between 1949 and 1974, when Barcelona developed a series of innovative proposals in architecture, urban planning and design.
At that time they were qualified as “Hard Lines”, since they went against the hegemonic trends of the time.
The architecture of this period is marked with a manifest concern for the places and conditions in which the local subaltern classes live.
During the 1970s, the neighborhood demands were confronted with the official technical-political option of restructuring the coastal zone.
Former Gustavo Gili Publishing House building
Antiga Seu Editorial Gustavo Gili: Rosselló, 87-89
Free exhibition, open from Tuesday to Sunday from 11 am to 8 pm.
It is closed to the public every Monday, as well as on June 24.
The inauguration took place on February 3, 2023. You still have the opportunity to appreciate this magnificent exhibition.
