Barcelona

The building now known as “Can Fabra” was built towards the end of the 19th century and occupied two blocks, between the Sant Andreu and Rec factories. In 1915 the company had over 1,500 workers and, at its height, it employed three thousand people, mainly from Sant Andreu. The idea of reclaiming the factory for the neighbourhood came from the residents’ associations and this was done, along with the landscaping, in several stages.

The first plantings were carried out in 1989 and the landscaped area adjacent to C/ Dr Balari, the Font Cibernètica (Cybernetic Fountain) and the square around it were completed in 1995. The landscaping at the back was competed five years later, coinciding with the factory’s conversion into the Ignasi Iglésias Library. This means there are two areas with a different layout and geometry.

There is a sheet of water opposite the library, surrounded by grass. This is the Font Cibernètica, a large ornamental fountain designed by Ramon Llopart. It is a musical fountain with parabolic and vertical jets of water which create liquid curtains that form shapes. The water flow, music and light are remotely controlled to create synchronised choreographies.
Equally remarkable is the secluded, bullet-shaped garden, which has a Chinese wooden bridge and an oval pond, with three bald cypresses (Taxodium distichum) growing inside it. This species grows in watery spaces such as lakes, ponds, marshes and marshy areas, so it is natural to find it inside water, showing its air roots which are above the water surface to capture oxygen. Its leaves turn a reddish colour during the autumn when they are about to fall. Then the pond, bridge and garden have an oriental, autumn look, where rusty hues predominate.