Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #23. Barcelona, 2019
Anyone who has pensively contemplated the Barcelona skyline from just about any vantage point in and around the city has surely noticed these three, 600-foot high, concrete chimneys on the coast off to the north.
From 1973 until they were decommissioned in 2011, the plant generated power–350 fat megawatts from each of the three stacks–for the surrounding multitudes. The environmental cost was quite high, however, as it was powered by heavy fuel oil. Fumes and sooty particulates laden with heavy metals and sulpher blanketed the surroundings and the place was eventually declared an official “contaminated area”. This untenable situation eventually forced the company to convert two of the generators to natural gas.
In 2008, anticipating the deactivation and the possible complete razing of the iconic chimneys, surrounding residents expressed an overwhelming desire to keep the triple stacks as part of the cityscape. Since then various options have been explored and mixed use will likely be the eventual outcome. Among the possibilities are some combination of… green space, beachfront, offices, hotel(s), apartments, shopping, community and/or sports center, and who knows what else. It’s all still very much high in the political thin air at this point.
However, the first hurdle to any redevelopment, before any modifications or renovation at all can begin, will be stabilizing the massive structure itself, and a recent study estimated the cost to do this would be somewhere around 9 million Euros. Yikes! Apparently, the salty environment has caused the metal supports within and around the concrete to rust which, in turn, is damaging (cracks, flaking) the cement carcass.
The three chimneys area definitely has tremendous potential for something very interesting, futuristic, and innovative. Hopefully, all the political entities (Generalitat de Catalunya, Ayuntaments of Barcelona, Sant Adrià de Besòs, and Badalona, et al) will get the balance right between the desires of the common folk and those with more powerful economic interests.
And…here is my idea, just in case they might be listening: make it into the most massive indoor/outdoor climbing gym in the world! You could actually have multi-pitch routes up those chimneys (with hanging belays, oh my!) and there is potential for some wild overhangs, too. Just a crazy thought…
Meanwhile, the three chimneys sits there, rather hauntingly, as a very attractive target for photogs in general, and for my portfolio of Barcelona Structures more specifically. So it was that I marched off early last Sunday (quite purposely, under ominously cloudy skies–they look great in B&W) to circumnavigate the edifice with camera and tripod in hand.
[NOTE: To you potential UrbEx types who might want to explore the three chimneys site, uh… lets say, more “intimately”, keep in mind that it is fenced, guarded, and monitored with cameras, so it’s probably not a swell idea.]
Below is a selection of the day’s imagery.
Here, the three chimneys are lined up to appear as one…with a bit of simulated old-fashioned wet plate wind action going on in the palm above:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #1. Barcelona, 2019
I liked how the different elements came together here–the palm, the half tree, the face on the grafitti-filled wall, the expanse of textured asphalt, the street light, and, of course, the main subject in the background:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #3. Barcelona, 2019
Here, a simpler composition contrasting the human-made object in the background with Nature in the foreground, all under skies warning of conflict. If converting to monochrome is your intention, cloudy days work really well to lend a sense of foreboding to the image:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #5. Barcelona, 2019
I guess that is sort of a just-another-brick-in-the-wall-type commentary with the bug eyes there on the right, juxtaposed with a huge concrete construction in the background that is the epitomy of the dominant culture of economic (vice philosophical, relational, or emotional) progress: “It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.” And a little rhyming between the round cat head and the manhole cover in the foreground:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #7. Barcelona, 2019
On the south side of the three chimney site, there is a large property that one can indeed find a way into–although there is nothing much to see except for a different view of the chimneys (and yet more grafitti, weeds, and empty spray paint cans):
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #9. Barcelona, 2019
The lone bird above the third stack helps this image out a bit. You may need reading glasses to see it on your small screen (and you thought it was fly poop!) but it shows up fine on the print:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #13. Barcelona, 2019
What’s the story behind those women’s shoes that were left behind? I can’t image the story being a happy one:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #14. Barcelona, 2019
The coastal side of the site remains pretty trashy–sort of a reminder of what much of the Barcelona beach and port area looked like before the huge renovations made for the 1992 Olympic Games. Here, you’ll just see the occasional fisherman, maybe some passing mountain bikers or runners, the odd dog walking their human, and maybe a transient camping out amidst the trash:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #16. Barcelona, 2019
Currently, it isn’t really in the process of demolition as the sign states. What will become of the place remains to be seen–offices, hotels, shopping, massive climbing gym??? I suspect that, 20 years from now, photographs made on this very spot will look waaaay different:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #19. Barcelona, 2019
Moving close in, here is a view at 70mm. Refurbishing and stabilizing all that concrete will be a massive job:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #21. Barcelona, 2019
There were actually a few more birds in the original of this image than just the three that you see. But, thanks to the spot healing tool in Photoshop, the number of avians now conveniently matches the number of smokestacks. Voila!
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #25. Barcelona, 2019
Continuing around the site in a counterclockwise direction, I am now on the northeast side:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #25a. Barcelona, 2019
The bird leaves the human structure behind, prefering the unpredictability of the incoming storm:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #27. Barcelona, 2019
A view into the maw of the beast (now quite toothless), though you can see what is still an active electrical distrubution substation on the right:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #28. Barcelona, 2019
That looks like some near-military grade concertina wire on the fence to keep us wufoos (“Wha for this…? Wha for that…?”) out:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #29. Barcelona, 2019
Not sure who the “Bufa Badalona King” might be, but he is famous in these parts, apparently:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #31. Barcelona, 2019
In these remaining photographs, I’m trying to play other human-made industrial structures off of the main subject:
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #37. Barcelona, 2019
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #38. Barcelona, 2019
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #39. Barcelona, 2019
Central Tèrmica de Sant Adrià de Besòs, #40. Barcelona, 2019
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