Go back to square one and reset the entire project to expand the comedy cinema to be housed in the Thyssen Museum in Barcelona and which is being implemented in Barcelona City Hall. This is the request that was agreed on Thursday at an event held by the Official College of Architects of Catalonia (COAC), which its dean, Guim Costa, will present to the mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Colboni. The union demands the opening of a participatory process that would allow the creation of an architectural proposal of “permanent value,” in addition to demanding an economic and other study on the return to the city that would include the display of works by Ramon Casas, Eliseo Miffrin or Santiago Rusiñol in the city center, as well as an unpublished collection from their collection.
A few dozen architects gathered in the COAC conference room to discuss the museum project hours after its promoters, including Carmen Cervera, Baroness Thyssen, invited an artistic intervention in the old cinema booths starring students from nine of the city’s art schools and accompanied by big figures from the cultural scene such as Javier Mariscal, Judit Masco, or Carme Ruscalida. At the event, Cervera highlighted that the museum will be an open space for both Barcelona residents and tourists, while Juan Manuel Sevillano, director of Stoneweg, the fund that will finance it, announced that works will begin at the end of 2026, when the necessary licenses will be obtained, so expectations remain that the space will be opened in the second half of 2028.
This is exactly the calendar that COAC wants to postpone. Barcelona City Council is in the final process of amending the General Metropolitan Plan that will allow the complete redesign of the interior of the building (the Palau Marcet facades will be respected), raising its maximum height and increasing the available ceiling by 25%. The event, organized with three explanatory sessions and a final discussion in which neither the Barcelona City Council nor the promoters accepted the call, raised a critical voice for the various proposals arising from the project.
One of the criticisms expressed by architect Sebastia Jornet during his presentation is the fact that the land extension serves up to 2,500 square meters of commercial supply within the building. “I don’t know of any museum that has a 2,500-square-meter store,” Jornet said, noting that with the reform, “I think they are earning more than the city.” I based this on the fact that the Comedy District, located at the intersection of Passeig de Gracia and Gran Via, is crowded with tourists and, on the other hand, is very limited in terms of public facilities.
“The city gives more space to the investment fund,” said Jaume Artigas, who defended the claims made by the Federation of Neighborhood Associations of Barcelona (FAVB) regarding the PGM amendment. At the subsequent symposium, in which there was a call to tighten the statement initially proposed by the professional association, a municipal architect pointed out that urban modification does not justify the “public urban interest”, which can be explained by the general provisions offered in return, such as green areas or land transfer.
Currently, the Thyssen Museum project is moving forward and maintaining a 2026 start date, although the architectural project is currently unknown. Sevillano confirmed in statements to the media that when the design is completed, it will be presented “to His Majesty,” and said that it is a complex project with internal discussion and that it will take shape little by little.
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