The winners of the competition to design the pavilion were Fàbric and Santiago de León, with the proposal “Published space”. The project proposes to formalise a large plaza or square, a meeting point to represent the public space in Barcelona, an empty space surrounded by colonnade façades that evoke the traditional architecture of our city, our Plaça Reial or our Plaça de Vicenç Martorell. Through symbolic elements like benches, trees, street lights and ephemeral stalls, an urban atmosphere that is recognisable and welcoming is created.

The pavilion is protected from the chaos typical of a fair environment by a constructed perimeter of modular colonnades that channel the main routes of the fair through the plaza and allow secondary routes to surround it. The myriad of objects and noise are kept away from the pavilion, which seeks a sober and simple image that recognises a Barcelona identity.

With a built yet permeable structure, simple yet symbolic, “Published space” aims to constitute, in the middle of a trade-fair site, a public space that evokes our most distinguished literary emblem, Sant Jordi, and offer a place for the collective experience and dialogue between city, literature and architecture.

The pavilion has two main spaces: the entrance, an auditorium for 120 people, which will hold a very significant part of the literary and professional programme of Barcelona. Visitors will also find a large book shop there where a total of 10,000 books connected in some way to the city will be on sale.