city literacy | prof. sabir khan | spring 2020
the neighborhood of el clot in barcelona, spain
stacking up layers of history
+ revealing the stories they tell
el clot is a neighborhood in barcelona's eixample with a dense history dating back to the establishment of small parish towns outside the walls of the old city, and past the line drawn delineating the zona militaire. it has always been a confluence of passages connecting barcelona to france, starting with some of the first roads leading out of the walled city. it became a logical place for industry to flourish along the canal and the railroad lines as they were built. one of the large figures in this area was the renfe railroad workshop which has since been transformed into a beautiful green space, parc del clot. as the city expanded past the walls into the gridded blanket that cerda threw across the barcelona plain, this area resisted. the well established streets and buildings maintained their angles that run contrary to the grid, maintaining the character of the neighborhood, and creating a sort of wedge.
the coastline in 150 a.c.
roads + buildings c. 1858
building development c. 1859
roads connecting barcelona to france c. 1750
cerda's projected grid for the eixample
eixample blocks c. 1877
modern built environment
modern roads + placa glories