Barcelona, barri a barri A living atlas of the 73 neighbourhoods

Sant Martí · 66

el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou

A former factory district of Poblenou where a brick textile mill, a design museum and a tower some 142 metres tall line up on one short walk, on land the 22@ plan has remade.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]

Stop at the corner of Carrer de Tànger and Carrer de la Llacuna and look for the exposed-brick perimeter wall and the tapering chimney of Ca l'Aranyó. Finished in 1874 as a textile mill, it closed in 1984 and is now a university campus.[1][2][3][4]

El Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou has been an administrative neighbourhood since 2006, with two distinct zones: the Parc neighbourhood and the area around Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes.[12]

Its land belongs to the old industrial belt of Poblenou. Since the 22@ plan of 2000, industrial ground has been turning into a mix of businesses, universities, culture and housing.[11]

el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou (neighbourhood 66) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou, el Besòs i el Maresme.

Where the name comes from

Etymology: certain[12]

The compound name is an administrative label, not an old place name. According to Catalan Wikipedia, the original cores formed around several parks, those of the Estació del Nord and the Ciutadella, and around la Llacuna, the road that linked the Poblenou core with el Clot.[12]

Despite the name, none of those parks lies inside the neighbourhood. The part nearest the parks was sometimes counted as Fort Pius, a name some local associations still use.[12]

Since 2006 the neighbourhood lies between Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes, Carrer de la Llacuna, Carrer de Pere IV, Carrer d'Àvila, Carrer de Llull, Carrer de Wellington, Carrer de Pujades, Carrer de Roger de Flor and Carrer dels Almogàvers, and Avinguda Meridiana as far as Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes.[12]

Before the neighbourhood

In 1800 the plot where Ca l'Aranyó now stands was a bleaching meadow that a landowning family sold to a manufacturer. In 1872 Claudi Aranyó bought the land and commissioned a spinning and weaving mill.[1][2][3][4]

How the streets were made

Ca l'Aranyó marries two styles: English in its outward image and structural elements (brickwork, dormer windows, prefabricated cast-iron parts and steel trusses) and Catalan in its building technique. The complex has an exposed-brick wall and a truncated-cone chimney.[1][2][3][4]

The 22@ plan of 2000 set out to transform 200 hectares of industrial land in Sant Martí. The modification of the metropolitan plan definitively approved on 31 May 2022 proposes 7,800 new homes, 80% of them protected, and makes one street in three a green axis.[11]

Dates that changed it

  1. 1872–1874 Claudi Aranyó buys the land (1872) and the textile mill is finished in 1874, to plans and with machinery from a British firm.[1][2][3][4]
  2. 1984 The firm Aranyó i Cia SA closes the mill.[1][2][3][4]
  3. 2000 The 22@ plan is approved to transform 200 hectares of industrial land in Poblenou and its surroundings.[11]
  4. 2003 Ca l'Aranyó is granted to Universitat Pompeu Fabra (surface right).[1][2][3][4]
  5. 2006 The neighbourhood's present limits are set.[12]
  6. 27 April 2009 Museu Can Framis opens in a former wool factory.[13][14]
  7. 14 December 2014 The Museu del Disseny de Barcelona opens in the Disseny Hub building on Plaça de les Glòries.[5][6][7]
  8. 31 May 2022 The modification of the metropolitan plan for a more inclusive and sustainable 22@ is definitively approved.[11]

People and collective life

Claudi Aranyó

Textile manufacturer who bought the land in 1872 and commissioned the mill, finished in 1874; the firm Aranyó i Cia SA closed it in 1984.[1][2][3][4]

Jordi Badia (BAAS Arquitectura)

Led the renovation of Can Framis: he restored two of the three naves and replaced the third with a new one that unifies the complex. The renovation won the 2010 Premi Ciutat de Barcelona d'Arquitectura i Urbanisme.[13][14]

Institutions

Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Campus del Poblenou

The campus has occupied Ca l'Aranyó, at Carrer de Roc Boronat 138, since the old mill was granted to the university in 2003 (classes began there in 2009).[1][2][3][4]

Museu del Disseny de Barcelona

Opened on 14 December 2014 at Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes 37-38, it brings together four earlier collections and holds more than 70,000 objects.[5][6][7]

Museu Can Framis

Museum of contemporary Catalan painting run by Fundació Vila Casas, at Carrer de Roc Boronat 116-126, with a collection running from the 1960s to the present.[13][14]

What can still be seen

Ca l'Aranyó

Protected as a local cultural asset; the main building, the exposed-brick wall and the truncated-cone chimney survive.[1][2][3][4]

The neighbourhood today

In 2026 el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou had 17,639 residents, 157.2 residents per hectare, a 2023 mean census-section income of €26,699, 112.2 hectares, and 31.2% of residents held non-Spanish nationality.

Non-Spanish nationality (2026): 31.2%

What is changing

The 2022 framework proposes 7,800 new homes (80% protected) and one street in three turned into a green axis; these are proposals of the plan, not homes already delivered.[11]

On 9 September 2026 the transformation of Plaça de les Glòries was announced as one of five finalists for the European Prize for Urban Public Space; the winner is due on 15 October. In May 2026 the demolition of 37 buildings northwest of the square, on Carrer del Consell de Cent, began so as to enlarge the Glòries park to 30,000 m2.[15][16]

Near the square, works to double the Trambesòs track and urbanise Gran Via continue until spring 2027; since 11 September 2026 the mountain-side carriageway of the Diagonal between Llacuna and Badajoz has been open to traffic again.[17]

What the guides leave out

A museum below the street

The garden of Can Framis lies about 1.5 m below street level, because the building predates the redevelopment plan.[13][14]

Read it on foot

Start: Glòries (L1) · End: Museu Can Framis[13][14]

Walking (excluding stop time): 12 min · 890 m · Estimated visit (with stops): 52 min

The geometry follows the pedestrian network between the four marked points, but it has not been verified as step-free. The approach from public transport is not included in the stated distance.

el Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou (neighbourhood 66) highlighted. Other neighbourhoods in Sant Martí: el Camp de l'Arpa del Clot, el Clot, la Vila Olímpica del Poblenou, el Poblenou, Diagonal Mar i el Front Marítim del Poblenou, el Besòs i el Maresme.

1
Museu del Disseny de Barcelona
Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes 37-38
Walk round the artificial lake that wraps the base of the building and look up at the three-storey prism, cut at a slant, that rises above the square.[5][6][7]
Part of the building is underground. It opened on 14 December 2014 and brings together four earlier collections, with more than 70,000 objects.[5][6][7]
Coordinates
41.40257, 2.18800 · OpenStreetMap
2
Torre Glòries
Avinguda Diagonal 209-211
230 m · 3 min
Look at the tower's facade: a grid of coloured glass plates over the concrete shell that rises to about 142 metres.[8][9][10]
Built between 1999 and 2005 as a company headquarters (the Torre Agbar), it has two nested oval structures. After its 2013 sale a hotel conversion was planned, but the 2017 hotel moratorium kept it in office use.[8][9][10]
Coordinates
41.40349, 2.18952 · OpenStreetMap
3
Ca l'Aranyó (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
Carrer de Roc Boronat 138
470 m · 6 min
Look for the exposed-brick wall that encloses the site and the truncated-cone chimney inside it; the main building stands near the corner of Tànger and Llacuna.[1][2][3][4]
A textile mill finished in 1874 to plans and with machinery from a British firm, it closed in 1984. Since 2009 it has been part of Universitat Pompeu Fabra's Poblenou campus.[1][2][3][4]
Coordinates
41.40396, 2.19376 · OpenStreetMap
4
Museu Can Framis
Carrer de Roc Boronat 116-126
180 m · 2 min
Notice the grey-painted walls that show brick, stone and the scars of old windows, and the garden, which lies below street level.[13][14]
A former wool factory, it opened as a museum on 27 April 2009 after a renovation by Jordi Badia (BAAS). It shows contemporary Catalan painting from the 1960s onwards.[13][14]
Coordinates
41.40291, 2.19495 · OpenStreetMap

Sources for this page

Dates, figures and historical claims are linked to the records used for this page.

  1. [1] Viquipèdia (2026). Ca l'Aranyó. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  2. [2] OpenStreetMap contributors (Nominatim) (2026). Universitat Pompeu Fabra–Campus del Poblenou, Carrer de Roc Boronat 138. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  3. [3] Sindicatura de Comptes de Catalunya (2006). Report 12/2006 (Universitat Pompeu Fabra). Accessed: 2026-10-09.
  4. [4] Universitat Pompeu Fabra (2009). UPF 25 anys: 2009. Accessed: 2026-10-09.
  5. [5] Viquipèdia (2026). Disseny Hub Barcelona. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  6. [6] Ajuntament de Barcelona (2026). Museu del Disseny de Barcelona: informació pràctica. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  7. [7] Viquipèdia (2026). Museu del Disseny de Barcelona. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  8. [8] Viquipèdia (2026). Torre Glòries. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  9. [9] Ateliers Jean Nouvel (n.d.). Tour Agbar. Accessed: 2026-10-09.
  10. [10] Barcelona Turisme (n.d.). Torre Glòries. Accessed: 2026-10-09.
  11. [11] Ajuntament de Barcelona (2022). MpPGM 22@: Un Poblenou més inclusiu, sostenible i productiu. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  12. [12] Viquipèdia (2026). El Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  13. [13] Viquipèdia (2026). Museu Can Framis. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  14. [14] Fundació Vila Casas (2026). Can Framis, Barcelona. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  15. [15] Metròpoli Abierta (2026-09-09). La nova plaça de les Glòries de Barcelona, finalista a un premi europeu. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  16. [16] Barcelona Secreta (2026-05-14). Adiós a las «casas hermanas» modernistas de Consell de Cent: se derribarán para ampliar el parque de Glòries. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  17. [17] Ajuntament de Barcelona, Districte de Sant Martí (2026-09-10). La línia T4 de tramvia recupera la normalitat el 14 de setembre. Accessed: 2026-10-03.
  18. [18] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2026-01-01). Padró municipal d'habitants (pad_mdbas) — població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  19. [19] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2021). Densitat de població per barri. Accessed: 2026-07-17.
  20. [20] Ajuntament de Barcelona — Open Data BCN (2023). Renda disponible de les llars per persona. Seccions censals. Accessed: 2026-07-17.

Last reviewed: 3 October 2026 · 20 sources consulted

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