June 6: Parc Diagonal Mar

Further up the shore is the Parc de la Diagonal Mar, also designed by Miralles, and by his later partner and wife, Benedetta Tagliabue, and constructed in 2002. The Diagonal Mar area is so named ever since its redevelopment starting in the '90s, because it's where the long Avinguda Diagonal, which cuts east-northeast across the whole city, meets the sea.

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The Parc contains typical Miralles shapemaking from straight segments and circular arcs, in a wild variety of materials and spatial ideas.

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What appears to be innocent monkeybars is actually a snare for excessively acrobatic children.

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A deconstructed Gaudí fragment among Miralles tendrils.

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A Pidge Among Shadows

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Some intense sky zags.

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It's a really fun place, like a surrealist painting grown into 3D, great for looping through on our bikes.

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Windmill benches.

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Watch your timing! (Actually I don't remember whether that fountain was periodic or constant.)

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Nice bridge tectonics.

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An intriguing variety of hardscape materials and a pretty cool water-cliff shape.

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Sky glyphs, like those antennas and chimneys at the Havshotel.

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Sky snares.

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Oh no, the palm tree got snared!

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Ha! I don't think I realized this at the time — the "EMBT" in the shards is the abbreviation for Miralles and Tagliabue's practice.

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It's rather astonishing that this construction stays aloft!

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An airy, almost plug-in-looking tower beyond a fountain that I'm pretty sure is supposed to recall a curled-up anteater.