Facade Articulation in Barcelona: "Why Not?"

The city of Barcelona is known for taking liberal risks with their buildings and facades, which luckily often pays off in new and interesting ways for the city. Along our bike tour we encountered many such examples, and in turn attempted to gain the essence of each in drawing as few lines as possible while still representing the value of each. The first we were asked to represent was the Illa de la Llum, by architects Lluis Collet and Ignacio, a building whose balconies and floor slabs are treated in a way so that the façade starts to deconstruct and resemble an unfinished building. When attempting to draw the façade, the trouble comes in representing a complex system of moveable panels through a restricted amount of lines. Thus, by drawing its two roofs and slightly offsetting the connecting vertical line the façade’s character is hinted at, though ultimately required more than three lines to become thoroughly coherent. A second façade we were asked to study actually consisted of two buildings, and their combined effect on one another. The two buildings were Torre Diagonal by EMBA and the Barcelona Forum by Herzog and De Muron, and both served to symbiotically heighten the transparency and effect of each other.  In my drawing, I attempt to convey the overlap that occurs not just between the building profiles, but also the fenestration and shading systems of both.  The Torre Diagonal acts as a continuation not only of what is happening at the Forum, but also a reflection of the sky and clouds so that it becomes an articulation of the existing site instead of an object in its own right.