UNDERGROUND MATTERS: Invisible Architectures | Activity
As part of Barcelona 2026, World Capital of Architecture, MACBA is to host its second tour for UNDERGROUND MATTERS: Invisible Architecturesan initiative to highlight the underground as an essential (and often invisible) part of the city and its architecture.
UNDERGROUND MATTERS: Invisible Architectures proposes three tours guided by experts to three important places in Barcelona underground. Each of the three visits explores the underground from a temporal point of view. The visit is preceded by an introduction by experts in different fields to provide knowledge and context. Also provided is a document with the talks and key information about the places visited, so that participants can think more about them after the visit.
The project springs from the urgent need to rethink the urban underground, an area often ignored but essential to the functioning of a modern city. The idea is to raise awareness of the importance of this hidden reality by combining professional viewpoints with visits to places with widely-varying functions, to understand the decisive influence of the underground on the quality of city life today, and also on the urban challenges for the future.
Programme
Past: Learning Through the Historical Memory
September 19
Visit to the archaeological site of Plaça del Rei, the basement of the Palau Güell and the air raid shelter in the Poble-sec district. The day focuses on recovering the historical memory of forgotten places which are nevertheless very important as heritage, helping us to understand how the underground has been used and how important it has been, both in the distant past and in more recent times.
Present: Showing Its Important Role Today
October 17
A visit to the underground part of MACBA, the Sant Antoni market and the deepest car park in Barcelona, beneath La Rambla. On this day we’ll think about the invisible but essential nature of the underground for the everyday functioning of dense metropolises.
Future: Imagine How Tomorrow’s Underground Can Aid Urban Resilience
November 14
Visit to the Audiovisual Campus of the Universitat Pompeu Fabra, a floor of the centralized climate control system on Carrer Tanger and the service galleries of Districte 22@, under the MediaTIC building. A day devoted to the strategic role of the underground in urban regeneration and in our response to today’s challenges, especially climate change.
Project in partnership with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), with the participation of Rosina Vinyes-Ballbé and the architecture and town planning firm Archicubicrepresented by Marc Chalamanch and Carmen Santana.
This activity is part of Barcelona 2026, World Capital of Architecture
Looking at architecture through different eyes
As part of Barcelona’s year as World Capital of Architecture, and coinciding with the celebration of the 30th anniversary of the museum, MACBA is to organize and host a set of activities exploring the crossover between contemporary art and architecture.
