DHUB: Barcelona’s Design Museum

Barcelona has always been a city closely linked to the design, either for Gaudi Modernist buildings scattered around the most emblematic places of the city, for its characteristic decorative arts, for the furniture design that has given important oeuvres to the world, or for Catalan fashion designers who have succeeded internationally. Because of this relationship between a cosmopolitan city and the design world, the Barcelona’s Cultural Institute have decided to invest 100 million euros to build a new Design Museum. The Disseny Hub Barcelona, a building located at Plaza de las Glories, has become a space for design promotion and understanding, acting both as a museum, a center and a laboratory that revolves around the design of the space, product design, information design and fashion design.

This comprehensive center with an anvil shape and a bright-silvered color was designed by Oriol Bohigas, right next to the famous and colorful Agbar Tower. It won’t go unnoticed if you get to Plaza de las Glories! Although DHUB isn’t officially opened, it has hosted fashion shows of 080 Barcelona, the Tangible conference, FADFest activities, the Barcelona Design Week, and other events related to the design world and new technologies. On the spring of 2014 it will be officially opened but for now, all design and decorative arts lovers visiting Barcelona can get amazed by its architectural design, and go inside to attend numerous events, exhibitions or catwalks.

Inside the museum it is divided into two parts, the underground, that takes advantage of the level change of this well-known roundabout and one that emerges to 14.50 meters and has a parallelepiped shape. In the lower building, we find the main exhibition rooms and museum activities spread over two floors and a “mezzanine”. The upper building extends to the square and has two levels, the upper foresees placing a “green carpet” with natural elements, and at the bottom, there will be a public square. This architectural project is designed within the parameters of sustainability and respect for the environment.

In short, the DHUB is an innovative project that contributes to making Barcelona one of the most important European capitals in terms of design. If you’re spending a few days or a few months in Barcelona and staying in one of our rental apartments, you can’t miss out on this museum.