Mediatrix of Sant Pere Mes Baix

Design: Andreu Arriola
Materials: Painting

The beginning of the street of Sant Pere més Baix from the Via Laietana is a clear example of joining a large open avenue on a medieval layout with one of its ancient streets. If on the mountain side the union of the stately building and the narrow street is a continuation, on the sea side there is a strong clash between the width of the new street and the old, leaving before it a wall that acted almost as a closure.

When the junction of this street traders reorganized, one of his priorities was to show that there is no commercial activity and decided to advertise on this point as did other streets. Recall, for example, the beginning of Gran de Gracia or the old street of Count of Assault (current Nou de la Rambla), which also advertised in different ways at the point where they meet a major artery, and generated an invitation to enter it.

The visibility of this medianera would, therefore, be a drawback would support a form of signaling and would make front door, now ostensibly open.

Andreu Arriola was the architect for the project. Visually Corrected the drawing a sense of closure profile building in perspective, following what would be the ideal continuation line the street. The letters aligned in this direction and perspective also give an impression of adentramiento. The blue sky in the upper half also gives a sense of openness. The fact that the entire drawing is in blue makes clear that it is a painted mural, a suggestion of openness and signaling, not an architectural hoax. The drawing could see as much as a shadow or as a silhouette, a very useful to suggest a presence without building, real do what it wants to build resource. So, you could see the line of Shadow Richard Haas Proposal for New York, which proposed to draw the shadows of the missing buildings on the Mediatrix to be treated and down a patch of sky in tight areas.