Illa Diagonal is a mixed-use complex on Avinguda Diagonal that combines retail, offices, hotels and facilities with the ambition of a small city. Completed in 1993 and designed by Rafael Moneo and Manuel de Solà-Morales, it extends over 300 metres of façade and earned the nickname “horizontal skyscraper”. Its fragmented volume avoids the block effect and adapts to the street scale. The inspiration from Rockefeller Center is evident, but reinterpreted through Barcelona: less skyline, more pavement, and an internal street that functions almost like a small city block.
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The project was awarded the FAD Architecture Prize in 1994. A clear indication that the shops here did not come alone, but brought architectural pedigree with them.
