Olympic Villages

The Barcelona’92 Olympic Villages were designed in accordance with the provisions of the Olympic Charter: a place where athletes could live together throughout the Games. Consequently, Olympic Villages in Barcelona, La Seu d’’Urgell and Banyoles were planned and built (the latter two were sub-host cities for events held very far away from the capital, so it was considered expedient to build specific accommodation in them).

A further three Villages were built for the media, judges and referees because the shortage of hotel beds suggested that such facilities would be necessary. The Barcelona Olympic Village was designed to accommodate 15,000 people and was built in the Parc de Mar area. The land used was a brownfield site occupied by various derelict factories that was hard to get to and cut off from the city and the sea, mainly because it was surrounded by a network of railway lines.

To take the necessary urban redevelopment forward, a Special Urban Plan designed by the architects Josep Martorell, Oriol Bohigas, David Mackay and Albert Puigdomènech was approved in 1986. In the earlier stages, the Vila Olímpica S.A. (VOSA) company was incorporated, which was in charge of the execution of the works to build housing to accommodate athletes and officials. In 1989, along with other companies, this company was affiliated to a larger company belonging to the Spanish State and the City of Barcelona.

The outcome of the Barcelona Olympic Village was a new neighbourhood covering a total of 45 hectares, which finally became an urban complex with green spaces, an urban grid similar to Barcelona’’s Eixample district and 5.2 kilometres of recovered beaches for public use. The other two important Villages, one in Banyoles (130 kilometres from Barcelona) and the other in La Seu d’’Urgell (178 kilometres from Barcelona), had capacities for 1,012 and 300 people, respectively.