Jardí Botànic de Barcelona
that escape the triangulation vocabulary used in the
rest of JBB. Nevertheless, the use of similar materi-
als helps to harmonise them in the general context.
One could regard them as follies, in terms of the
overall concept. The new Botanic Institute Building
has a 70m-long window façade; even though one
might agree with the concept, it is difficult to
escape the conclusion that the window is too long
and too dominant for a project which otherwise has
such a fine grain.
A challenge to JBB, as in all the public space pro-
jects, is to keep the original scheme simple and
coherent, and to avoid the gradual superimposition
of urban furniture, signposting and other elements
in a variety of styles. This has not yet happened at
JBB, although the recent appearance of litter bins
which employ previously unused materials and dif-
ferent styles should sound an alarm.
A doubt arises about the way the phytoepisodes
are being managed. During the flurry of activity
before the opening, many of the phytoepisodes
were implemented without a single plan. Even
though the results are interesting, one might say
that they could have been better if more time could
have been invested in their design. The budget
at JBB has been limited and this has prevented a
number of important tasks from being completed,
among them research into the phytoepisodes and
more detailed design commissions, whether by the
in-house team or by consultants. Plants need to be
identified and explanatory signboards are needed.
Work on these aspects has been commissioned.The number of visitors doubled in 2003 to around
24,000 per annum, but the garden is still far short
of being economically sustainable. Two more stra-
tegic developments are underway – the opening
of a restaurant/bar in the Biological Institute, and
the construction of an amphitheatre for open clas-
ses and meetings, together with picnic facilities in
one of the phytoepisodes. A programme of school
visits, open days, conferences and temporary exhi-
bitions in the Botanical Institute will be inaugurated
in the near future, in the hope that this will gradually
increase the visitor numbers.