Sarrià and Sant Gervasi
The architectures of “la Zona Alta”. Coderch, Sert, Barba Corsini, Bofill, H-Arquitectes and more.
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In the so-called "Zona Alta" of Barcelona are located some examples of the best Catalan residential architecture of the twentieth century, by architects such as Josep Lluís Sert, José Antonio Coderch, Francisco J. Barba Corsini, or Ricardo Bofill, among others.
From the second half of the 20th century, a large part of the city’s wealthy classes settled in the so-called “Zona Alta”, in the northwest of the city of Barcelona, located between Diagonal Avenue and the Collserola mountain range. On the route, apart from observing some of the best modern residential architecture, we will visit some significant recent works, such as civic centers and libraries, located in rehabilitated or newly constructed buildings, such as the J. V. Foix library, designed by OP Team Arquitectura or La Villa Urania designed by SUMO Arquitectes and Yolanda Olmo.
The route runs between Sarrià, the oldest urban center in the area, Tres Torres, the area around Turo Park, and Galvany, where there are several exceptional examples of residential architecture, built between 1950 and 1975. These are buildings for the privileged classes designed by architects of the stature of Coderch, one of the founders and most representative members of the R Group, Harnden & Bombelli, MBM, Barba Corsini and Ricardo Bofill, among others. Among its most relevant features are the spacious and distinguished entrance halls and the distribution of the dwellings divided into three separate areas: public, private and service.
The itinerary allows you to get to know neighborhoods and architectures of very diverse character, beyond the residential architecture designed for the bourgeoisie.
In general, the interior visit of the houses is not included, due to the difficulty of securing permission to access private residences. The route combines different architectures according to the duration of the tour and the interests of the group, whether it is the residential architecture of the 1960-70’s, contemporary architecture, rationalism and GATCPAC (Casa Lopez by J. L. Sert – from 1931) or Gaudi and Modernism. As a complementary extra not included, it is proposed to end the tour with a reservation in one of the most emblematic restaurants/locals of the so-called “gauche divine”, which preserve the interior design of the late 1960s and 1970s (please consult).
