Bullfights arouse strong feelings on both sides. Their aficionados see them as a place of near reverence, where animal and man engage in an athletic dance summoning the shadows of mankind’s struggles for both dominance over and stewardship of his natural counterparts. Opponents of the sport decry its violence and bloodshed, the unnecessary cruelty of what they see as a prolonged infliction of torture upon one of our planet’s fellow creatures. In 2012, Catalonia, the region of Spain that contains Barcelona, agreed more with the latter characterization than the former and banned the sport.
This has left the historic La Monumental bullring without its traditional occupants, but it is a building too beautiful and too iconic to be allowed to fall into decay. Instead, it has become a venue for other types of sporting events, musical performances, and even the circus, as well as being open for tourists who may be interested in seeing the only Art Nouveau bullring in the world. When Frederick Ajjoub had the opportunity to reimagine the building as part of his
Drones were of particular interest to Ajjoub because of their uses in providing visuals from the air, something that has made capturing images of architecture, landmarks, and geographical areas possible in a way only imagined before. But there is more to creating a drone station than just having a flat spot for the little machines to touch down. In order to fully understand the project, Ajjoub began working with Rowland Marshall, a Business Developer at Parrot who was instrumental in helping him with both the design programming and the overarching vision for the hub. As Ajjoub wrote:
“From the first day we met, Rowland was motivated and excited about the prospect of such an interesting idea. His proficiency and experience in this field let me discover and structure new ideas about organization and economy, the station program, and its efficiency. Together we explored the different aspects of the building and its reinvention, including likely uses, the organization, and the logistics of drones in operation. Soon, the vision of La Monumental as the Drone Hub of transportation in the world emerged, where all different uses from the photography to the autonomous transportation, could come together – it would be an Innovation Center for Drones.”
“By creating a building which is decoupled from the historic structure, this project recognizes the importance of the historic fabric and the need to preserve the architectural cultural heritage of Catalonia. One has to ask, however, if we are moving into a world where our digital lives are more fundamental to our existence than our physical ones, for how long we will require a corporal venue for the voyeuristic pleasure of spectacle and destruction that has been part of our public realm since Ancient Rome? Perhaps the greatest take away from this proposal is not its program, but rather the very real suggestion that advanced technologies could one day change our building codes and our current understanding of space.”