Liceu Mar connects Barcelona with the sea through an ambitious cultural project at Port Vell that integrates architecture, urban planning, and public space. Out of the 55 international entries received, five teams advance to the final phase, highlighting the quality and diversity of global talent. The project will drive the transformation of Moll d’Espanya and position the city as a benchmark in new cultural architectures.
The Liceu Mar International Architecture Competition, promoted by the Gran Teatre del Liceu and the Port of Barcelona, has selected five finalist teams from the 55 applications submitted by local and international architecture and urban planning teams. The high quality of the applications, composed of top-level professionals, has been evident both in the completed projects presented by all teams and in the graphic and written materials provided. This high standard has shaped a demanding selection process that reinforces the project’s relevance in the debate on new cultural architectures and places Barcelona at the center of this international stage.
Conceived as the second venue of the Gran Teatre del Liceu at the Port of Barcelona, Liceu Mar is a new space designed to connect the city with the sea through culture, with the aim of opening up to citizens and projecting itself globally as a hub for creation, education, and the performing arts. Beyond the construction of a new facility, the project promotes the comprehensive transformation of the Moll d’Espanya at Port Vell, integrating architecture and urban planning to generate a new centrality that brings together open spaces and cultural activity, strengthening the relationship between the port and the city through collaboration between institutions and specialized teams.
The competition, published in July, has been structured in two phases. The first, completely open, involved the submission of previously completed projects by the teams, while the second phase invited the five selected teams to develop architectural and urban planning designs.
After an initial evaluation of the professional track records of the applicants, five teams were chosen to develop a complete architectural project. The winning team will be commissioned to draft the preliminary design, basic project, and subsequent phases, while the finalist teams will each receive €25,000 in compensation. The finalist teams will be required to present a physical model and the associated graphic documentation, which will be publicly exhibited as part of the World Capital of Architecture 2026.
The teams bring together local and international firms, showing notable plurality and diversity in their composition. The selection of these five proposals has been carried out based on the evaluation of completed works presented by the authors and specialists in the following fields: architecture, urban planning, acoustics, design, audiovisual communication, and new technologies.
The finalist teams
Team 1: UTE SANAA + CFA
SANAA Jimusho Ltd
CAMPS FELIP ARQUITECTURA SLP
Team 2: UTE BATLLE ROIG SLP - SNØHETTA OSLO
BATLLE ROIG SLP
SNØHETTA OSLO
Team 3: UTE BAROZZI VEIGA + MAIO + BURGOS GARRIDO
Estudio Barozzi Veiga SLP
Maio Archietect SLP
Burgos y Garrido Arquitectos SLP
Team 4: UTE SOU FUJIMOTO + GRAS + ALDAYJOVER
Sou Fujimoto architects inc
GRAS Reynés arquitectos
Alday jover arquitectos SLP
Team 5: UTE DECAS_b720_CeC
DECAS David Chipperfield Architects Santiago De Compostela SLU
b720 Arquitectura SLP
CREUSeCARRASCO arquitectos SLP
The evaluation of these areas has been carried out according to criteria such as architectural quality and user-centered design; permeability, welcoming of people, and architectural and constructive integration of systems; the project’s relationship with the landscape and its fit within the urban context, as well as comfort and proximity to users and pedestrians. Likewise, the analytical process of the hall’s requirements and needs for the adoption of acoustic criteria has been assessed, along with the architectural integration of audiovisual communication systems and elements and their degree of innovation.
The Port of Barcelona will be responsible for the urban development of the future facility’s surroundings. The municipal company Barcelona d’Infraestructures Municipals (BIMSA) will handle the comprehensive management of the construction of the new Liceu Mar.
The management of the urban development around the facility will be handled by the Port of Barcelona, while the comprehensive management of the construction of the new Liceu Mar building will be assumed by the municipal company Barcelona d’Infraestructures Municipals (BIMSA), thanks to an agreement between the Barcelona City Council and the Gran Teatre del Liceu.
BIMSA’s involvement in the comprehensive management of the building’s construction is part of a new line of activity that allows BIMSA, in coordination with the Barcelona City Council, to undertake all actions promoted by other administrations or public sector entities that are of interest to the city council due to their contribution to the city’s economic, social, and cultural development and their urban impact.
Competition jury
The competition jury is chaired by Martha Thorne, urban planner.
The jury members are:
David Pino Roca. Civil Engineer (Roads, Canals and Ports). Director of Port Vell at the Port of Barcelona
Xavier Sagrera. Engineer. Technical Director of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation.
Miguel Ángel Pindado Rodríguez. Engineer. Director of Projects and external connection infrastructures at the Port Authority of Barcelona.
Elsa Ibar. Architect. Deputy Director General for Works and Services, Department of Culture of the Government of Catalonia
Núria Moliner. Architect, communicator, audiovisual creator and musician.
Concepció Balcells. Architect, nominated by the College of Architects of Catalonia.
Gustau Gili i Galfetti. Architect, nominated by the College of Architects of Catalonia
Lluís Dilmé i Romagós. Architect, nominated by the College of Architects of Catalonia
Secretaris:
Xavier Fabré. Architect
Pau Díez. Architect
Marc Comas. Head of the Technical and Logistics Office of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation
Elionor Villén. Head of Legal Advisory of the Gran Teatre del Liceu Foundation
The vision of Liceu Mar
Liceu Mar envisions the creation of a new cultural building at Port Vell and the design of its surrounding area, bringing together architecture and urban planning as a single, inseparable project. It is a space at the Port of Barcelona where city and sea converge to generate creativity, knowledge, and culture; a second venue conceived to expand and strengthen the transformative power of the Liceu, opening it further to the public and projecting it internationally.
In an exceptional location, Liceu Mar seeks to engage in dialogue with the landscape and the horizon, incorporating the poetic dimension of the relationship between sea and culture. An open and integrated cultural space, capable of enriching the urban experience and reinforcing Port Vell as a cultural hub.
In this context, the competition is conceived as a creative challenge for teams capable of translating this vision into a proposal with identity: a project that understands the building and public space as a unified whole, and that expresses the values of Liceu Mar through form and atmosphere.
At its core, Liceu Mar aspires to become a creative hub and a driver of 21st-century cultural dynamism: a living, flexible, and sustainable facility, a benchmark for all audiences, ensuring universal access to culture. It will promote contemporary creation—through the International Center for New Opera—strengthen educational and family-oriented activities, the Petit Liceu, a stable dance season, and a diverse operatic program across multiple formats and scales.