Listed in the Art-Bridge Directory
First place in category "Architecture - Masters", August 2001

Barcelona Pavilion

The Barcelona Pavilion, designed by Mies van der Rohe, was a German entry for the 1929 World Exposition at Barcelona. The pavilion existed for 6 months and disappeared during the shipping back to Germany. Although its existence is now confined to cyberspace, the Barcelona Pavilion is still considered to be the most famous masterpiece of modern architecture. (see Note at bottom of page)

An excellent presentation of the Barcelona Pavilion with exquisite renderings, background information, and a tour via HTML or QuckTime VR is available on the web from the School of Architecture Property and Planning at the University of Auckland, New Zealand.

We developed a model of the pavilion (based on data obtained from SGI) for experiments in immersive virtual reality and for the study of the following topics:

Our test version is different from the original pavilion, and the animations placed into the model may not be appropriate regarding the intended spirit of this building. We hope, however, that these sacrileges do not offend the many admirers of Mies van der Rohe's work.


Views of the Barcelona Pavilion:


Web size (85K)

Web size (75K)


Web size (30K)

Web size (40K)


Birds-eye view from a close-by earth with orbiting moon:


Web size (51K)

Web size (88K)


Still frames of some animations:


Lava lamp
Web size (43K)

Animated monitor
Web size (44K)

Circling shark
Web size (40K)


Load the VRML 2.0 model (563K + 266K textures) of the Barcelona Pavilion and explore. Click trough the viewpoint list for a guided tour.


Note: A reader of this page from Spain pointed out to us that the Barcelona Pavilion was rebuild between 1981 and 1986 in the Montjuic mountains, site of the Barcelona 1929 International Exposition, where this jewel of architecture can now be seen again. Thanks to Josep Maria Beroy for this valuable information.
Last Update: December 5, 2002, kpb
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