Remodeling of the Ninot Market

Indoor markets dating back to the 19th century are an integral part of Barcelona's quality public spaces and architecture. Since 1991, 39 markets have been renovated under guidelines of the Barcelona Municipal Market Instute, most recently the Ninot Market per a design by Josep Lluís Mateo. The original structure has been left intact, wrapped on the outside by perforated sheet metal panels. Mateo Arquitectura answered a few questions about the project.

Please provide an overview of the project.

The market, since its origins, has been a large covered place.

We conserve and repair the beautiful structure that supports that roof. Beneath, we dig into the site to introduce new services that complement sales activity: logistics, parking, installations.

Rather than changing the visible volume, we change the surfaces that enclose it to improve the conditions of use and space, control the entrance of daylight and organize the adjacent urban space, integrating the presence of the outdoor stalls.

The interior is like a city. Two orthogonal axes (N-S and E-W) form the layout along which the stalls are organized, with the emphasis on their individuality. A large open foyer space on Carrer de Mallorca receives visitors. It is a plaza leading into this virtual city of commerce. The inside space, bathed in the milky light we filter in from the exterior, is a hive of activity.

On the outside, the skins with which we clothe the existing structure open as they reach the ground to offer produce. The market relates with the city by communicating its use; the streets and the plazas that are gained are places of exchange, not just of transit.

What are the main ideas and inspirations influencing the design of the building?

The intervention to El Ninot market maintains the existing facility and equips it with new, up-to-date services, keeping the market’s historical memory alive and adapting it to contemporary use.

The architect’s intervention centers on four key points: maintaining the impressive existing structure, improving approaches, redesigning the façades and roofs, and exploiting the subsoil.

Were there any significant challenges that arose during the project? If so, how did you respond to them?

The space took the form of a great pre-existing roof. Beautiful. The very lightweight structure, screwed together, floating apparently effortlessly over the site.

We were to enclose it hermetically, letting in light but not direct solar radiation.

A slat system was built. Sheets of perforated and folded stainless steel. Perforated to differing densities, graduating their relationship with the site (more opaque below, more open above).

Folded to highlight their rigidness and draw in light reflected to the north.

Great effort was deployed in the workshop to create them. Rigidness and controlled permeability were the keys.

According to exterior light, the experience changes.

By day, the building seems opaque on the outside, and constant light invades it inside.

By night, when lit up inside, the building emphasises its lightness and transparency.

(As they reach the ground, the slats transform to accommodate inside them the small outside stalls. They fold or twist. The base moves.)

How did you approach designing for this part of Barcelona?

We had to remodel a very lovely existing structure. We had to change the façades to control the entry of light and arrange the stalls inside. We had to generate an interior space that was clear and, in places, grand and public.

How does the design relate to its context?

The project involved rebuilding the structure and conserving the interior space, adding the building’s new outer skins: layers of folded, perforated stainless steel that filter the light.

Contact with the street is produced by opening the skin, generating the small outside stalls. The inside space is very clear—a little city with a central axis and a plaza leading to it.

Iron on the inside and iron on the outside. Light, people, objects and produce for sale, all framed.