Barcelona 2014 - Parc Diagonal Mar

Diagonal Mar is one of the newest districts in Barcelona. It used to be an industrial wasteland, but today you will find luxury highrise apartments, office towers, shopping centres and commercial developments. This is an area that tries to recreate what is considered to be an ideal modern urban environment - but it lacks the chaos, the charm and the human qualities of the old quarters. I was here looking for another project by Enrique Miralles whos was tasked with designing a series of parks in the area - Parc Diagonal Mar. It was not difficult to find - as you can spot Miralles' signature style from a mile away.

The park is actually not one big park but a series of small urban green pockets interspersed with the new developments. It is great that they are all open to the public for everyone to enjoy.

One of the larger green pockets has a lake inside and also bicycle tracks running through.

What I got from this visit was that Enrique Miralles was a great architect, but as a landscape designer - not so much.