Historically occupied by residential apartments and later used as a conservation and maintenance workshop, Casa Batlló’s second floor will, for the first time, open to the public as a gallery dedicated to contemporary art.
It will host two contemporary art exhibitions per year establishing itself as a new cultural hub in Barcelona. The new space will be accessible to the public either as part of the full Casa Batlló visitor experience or with a standalone ticket to the space.
Maria Bernat, Director of Casa Batlló Contemporary says: “Casa Batlló Contemporary aims to foster a dialogue between the past and future, situating Antoni Gaudí’s legacy within a contemporary framework. Through art and architecture, it explores his radical vision with present-day thinking, remaining faithful to his spirit of innovation and disruption while engaging with Barcelona’s dynamic artistic landscape.”
The redesign of the second-floor space into a new gallery, directed by Mesura, preserves the building’s essence while articulating a contemporary architectural language.
It has been restored carefully preserving its original features—most notably the woodwork and stained glass—while being reimagined as a meeting point between architectural memory and contemporary artistic creation.
The space’s newest intervention is a curved metal ceiling, screen-printed with concentric ripples evoking a drop of water on a calm lake. Produced using robotic technology, it bestows the space with a distinct identity while fulfilling structural requirements.
“Intervening in a Gaudí building is both a dream and an enormous responsibility. Our goal was to create an echo of his work, a whisper that adds to his universe without altering it,” explains Carlos Dimas, partner at Mesura.