The new Mercabarna-Flor in Catalonia, Spain:
Image courtesy of yatzer.com
This amazing building was built to house flower and plant wholesalers. The exterior was designed using a shell as inspiration–an organic series of folds and a cascading roof line hint at the natural flora and fauna to be found inside. The angled zinc roof ingenuously disguises an otherwise vulgar series of loading zones.
image courtesy of yatzer.com
Inside, the market is actually divided into three separate sections according to product, each with its own specific climate and technical conditions. The Cut Flower Market has a modern industrial cooling system to keep temperatures between 36˚F and 59˚F, allowing flowers to stay fresh for up to 3 days. The Plant Market has a special heating system complete with one of Europe’s largest radiant floors to introduce humidity and guarantee temperatures never drop below below 59˚F, or go above 79˚F to make it ideal to double as a storage or greenhouse space. The third section consists of a loading zone a gastronomic restaurant, an office zone and two florist education centers and in addition a multipurpose space for events.
image courtesy of yatzer.com
And this is just a flower market. Imagine the time, money, resources and brainpower that went into putting this project together–as a lover or design for design’s sake, we are in awe. The sheer ambition to conceive a building of this scale and importance is inspiring, and the fact that its sole purpose is to house flower vendors is phenominal. This is truly a tangible indicator of our culture’s changing palatee by shifting from gadgets and gizmos to small pleasures and natural beauty.
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