The former fire station in Poble-sec was originally built as part of the construction project for the International Expo in 1929. The building was turned into a new facility in 2016, winning recognition at the Catalonia Construction Awards the following year. The centre currently houses the Espai Bombers, an exhibition facility for education and dissemination relating to safety and prevention.
The Espai Bombers forms part of the programme for the Open House Barcelona again and will be open for free visits on 24 and 25 October.
- On Saturday 24 there’s an open day. The centre will be open during its usual hours, from 11 am to 3 pm and from 4 pm to 8 pm.
- On Sunday 25 there are free guided tours between 10 am and 7 pm: these visits will be conducted by Open House volunteer guides (architecture), with support from staff at the centre (functional part and philosophy of the centre). The visits will last roughly between 30 and 40 minutes.
To complement general measures, the Open House association has prepared a protocol to guarantee the safety of all visitors, volunteers and staff at the centre.
Poble-sec fire station
The former fire station in the neighbourhood of Poble-sec is the only historical firefighting facility to be conserved in Barcelona. It was built for the Universal Expo in 1929 and was a pioneering building as it was the first purpose-built centre and the first to adapt to the new needs of the service.
The former fire station had two floors and was built using techniques typical of the period: a vertical structure with massive walls and a horizontal metal structure.
The work to revamp the building started in November 2014 with a project that would mean an entire overhaul and the revaluation of the most characteristic elements, the tool yard and the practice tower, as well as the construction of a new metal structured interior of four floors.
The project, by Roldán + Berengué Arquitectes, sought to achieve maximum transparency throughout the various exhibition spaces, with glass being the material of choice where possible with new openings in the interior walls. This resulted in the whole building becoming integrated as part of a continuous tour route, which is, for the first time since it was built, accessible for public use. The surface area of the renovated building is 1,433 square metres.
The building was recognised by the Catalonia Constructions Awards 2017, in the category for projects on existing buildings.