The two towers, Hotel Arts and Torre Mapfre, in addition to Frank Gehry’s sculptural fish, was built as symbols of the Olympic games as they remind much of a medieval city gate and can be seen from most parts of Barcelona. Also other monuments of the Olympic Games give identity to the area, like the square with the medal podium and engraved plates of all the winners.
The district has been successful in the manner of opening the city to the sea, ranged as one of the best city beaches in the world, and opened up for a massive tourist boom. The boardwalk is frequently used by joggers and skaters as well as quiet walkers. The well planned traffic flow makes a good communication to the city otherwise.
On the other hand, the area has served massive critics for the rapid development, as several worthy buildings were demolished to give space for huge constructions. The wide open pedestrian streets are experienced as an undefined space combined with the giant buildings and the ground level with a lack of commercial programs, and leave it desolate and impersonal. Also the area is missing everyday services like supermarkets, cafés and shops, except parts of the boardwalk both in upper and lower level of the beach where both day- and nightlife is vivid.
One of the few buildings prevented and transformed, are the UPF University. An old barrack have been given new life with modern environments as the architects of MBM Arquitectos, SA, Josep Maria Martorell, Oriol Bohigas and David Mackay contrasted the old buildings with modern design.
The Vila Olimpica is experienced as a very important contemporary transformation of Barcelona, as it brought new life to the city in several ways. The occasion, The Olympic Games, have been an important event for the development of the city. It has given a new identity and caused a city cleanup. The result is a better working traffic system, updated public squares, new monuments and stadiums, a new district, a huge public beach and at all a vitamin injection. It is an interesting subject how a big event can affect a city development. Some places in Barcelona, like in Vila Olimpica, there are major squares and streets that do not work well in the daily urban scale, but on the other hand makes the city being capable of hosting big events.
It is impossible to find a similar situation of this caliber in Oslo since the Olympic Games last was arranged in Oslo in 1952, and the city transformation was probably not anything like what happened in Barcelona in the same occasion. There have, however, been arranged several different large scale arrangements there, like Winter World Cups and Eurosong. These are events that have caused major or minor adjustments of the city, but nothing of this scale.
In 1994, however, the Olympic Winter Games was arranged in Lillehammer, a small city about a 3 hours drive from Oslo. This event have caused a huge transformation to this city, both as an identity issue (it’s claimed that they still live in 1994), and as a tool for city renewal. The old press center has given the city a new college, and the event halls have given sports- and concert halls. It has also made it possible to arrange big events there, like sports cup that I myself participated in when I was younger.
