The Espai Bombers building is once again taking part in the annual architecture festival 48H Open House Barcelona. The centre will be holding open days on Saturday and Sunday, with guided tours of 15 minutes on Sunday.
The museum, which highlights the history of Barcelona’s firefighting corps, will be taking part in 48H Open House Barcelona as another example of its ties with cultural life in the city. The Espai Bombers forms part of the ‘Montjuïc. Mountain of Museums’ network of cultural centres.
Award-winning building
Designed by the architect Emilio Gutiérrez, the former Poble-sec fire station is now used as the Espai Bombers prevention park. It was built for the International Expo of 1929 and was a pioneering building in that it was the first purpose-built fire station, designed to match the needs of the service. It is also the oldest fire station in the Spanish state and the only historical fire station remaining in Barcelona.
The building was renovated by Roldán + Berengué Arquitectes in 2014, with work completed in 2016. The former fire station had two floors and was built using techniques typical at that time: vertical structure with thick brick walls and a horizontal metal structure. The new project involved a complete revamp to achieve optimal transparency between the different exhibition spaces. The project mainly used glass in the new space and added new openings to inner walls, framing the structure of brick and steel.
The Espai Bombers – Parc de la Prevenció won a prize in the Catalan Construction Awards in 2017, organised by the Association of Surveyors, Technical Architects and Building Engineers of Barcelona. The jury made a positive assessment of the project’s capacity to offer a new use and a new life.
Plan your visit
If you would like to visit the former fire station in Poble-sec, come along to the open days on Saturday, 22 October, or Sunday, 23 October:
- Saturday 22, during the centre’s usual opening hours: 11 am to 3pm and 4 pm to 8 pm
- Sunday 23, 10 am to 7 pm, with guided tours every 15 minutes.
There is no need to book in advance for guided tours.