Recently short-listed at the World Architecture Festival for the renovation of Father Duffy Square/TKTS Booth in Times Square, PKSB Architects were invited to compete in their awards program in Barcelona for the first week of November. Despite the number of design prizes previously bestowed on Duffy Square, the chance to win an award in this venue seemed unclear and somewhat unlikely given the robust display of built forms provided by previous winners. Our concerns for having a fair shot at an award were certainly assayed by the prospect of spending a week in Barcelona. It was to be an opportunity for personal as well as professional enrichment.

My wife Shue Tshen and I were looking forward to delving into the city, with thoughts of a food culture, architectural monuments both past and present and a climate that soothed the psyche. Whatever the out come, we were already winners. In the end, we went, we saw, we eat and we were awarded. It was an interesting experience and thoroughly rewarding. The city delivered on all that it had to offer and the Festival was engaging and thought provoking. We were given an award for our category “New and Old” and by all accounts of the final jury, nearly a took the top award. Truly, a wonderful event.

Arriving in Barcelona, we were swept up in the layers and density of its urban form, architectural monuments, artistic genius of art and we should not forget the genius of the food. For in the presentation and quality of their food can be found the essential nature of their culture, a sensibility that permeates to the common place, the ordinary encoded with the depth of history and nuance. There are other places like Barcelona in that they also are vibrate and alive, preserving the richness of the past while continuing to grow and develop. These places are unfortunately rare and when you find yourself there, it is bliss to the mind and the senses.

Barcelona is a curious blend of identities. On the one hand, it is clearly an international center, a multilingual city with a depth of culture and history that extends well beyond itself in space and time. On the other, it is defiantly local, ethnocentric and stubbornly proud. In historical terms, one can understand the Pro-Catalonia stance of Antonio Gaudi, but soon one realizes that this behavior remains politically active and pervasive. This dual identity lends to the city’s richness and diversity. While the tourist seem to be everywhere, it doesn’t seem to interfere with the city being alive and growing. So often a city known for its monuments has simply turned into one itself and ceases to grow. This is far from the case in Barcelona. The Barcelona sensibility is alive and actively creative.

Just prior to leaving New York to meet our counterparts, Choi Ropiha and Perkins Eastman, we were presented with a new music video by JayZ and Alicia Keys, “Empire State of Mind”. A rapping rendition of Frank Sinatra’s New York, New York that prominently features the red steps of Duffy Square in the video. At first blush, I was a bit embarrassed by the crude nature of it. Never a fan of rap and headed into a hotbed of architectural intellectuals, it seemed so pedestrian. Humming it all week and trying to find a way to insert it into our presentation, I came to see it in stark contrast to my Europe adventure. Alicia Keys, a melodic siren of her time transforms what could be a passing sound into a crystallized moment for New York. It speaks volumes to the nature of place and identity of the city.