Ca l’Aranyó (UPF)

C Roc Boronat, 150

From the end of the 19th century and for more than 100 years Ca l’Aranyó was one of the most important factories in the Poblenou neighbourhood. Today, and fusing the past with the present, this historically-charged building makes up part of a university campus dedicated to communication, technology and innovation, and sees thousands of students pass through every day.

Manufacturing footprints

Amid the area known as 22@ rise numerous chimneys that remind us of the industrial past of this neighbourhood, which in the late nineteenth century was referred to as the Catalan Manchester. One of the chimneys, standing at eight metres tall, is currently part of the UPF’s Communication Campus. It is next to the building which belonged to the former Ca l’Aranyó factory. Now reclaimed and transformed into a space for the university, this building is one of the best examples of Catalan industrial heritage.

A British legacy

Dedicated to the production of cotton, Ca l’Aranyó belonged to the Catalan businessman Claudi Aranyó and functioned right up to 1986, when it fell into disrepair. It was reclaimed in order to retain its unique typology, as Ca l’Aranyó is different to all other examples of Catalan textile architecture from the 19th century.

The building was constructed in 1878 and designed according to the English model of industrial architecture. So it is the only floored factory in Catalonia where a metallic structure, a British signature, was adapted to the traditional Catalan vault. The mixture of these two styles, as well as the use of exposed brickwork as the main material, makes it unique and very attractive.