Batlleiroig, merging city and nature for more than 40 years
Enric Batlle, founding partner and CEO of Batlleiroig
What does Batlleiroig do?
We provide architectural, landscaping and urban planning services.
When was the company founded and when did you start working in this company?
Batlleiroig was founded by myself and Joan Roig in 1981.
What do you like most about your job?
The use of both technical skills and creativity; the opportunity to influence the future of our cities; the balance between specialization in certain subjects – landscaping, for example, or office buildings – and the cross-disciplinarity that is required today in any process of transformation.
And what do you like least?
The excessive complexity of all the processes we are engaged in. But accepting, understanding, and resolving the complexities inherent in any intervention has also become one of our hallmarks.
What do you think your company excels at?
As architects, urban planners, and landscape architects, we work on buildings, cities and landscapes, so perhaps our corporate advantage lies in in the merging of the three disciplines.
What is your main challenge?
Merging city and nature. Our motto has expressed our mission ever since 1981, when we built a cemetery that blends into the landscape. The challenge is to create environmentally-friendly buildings, cities and landscapes that are of value to our citizens and other city users.
Where is your business located? Do you know why this location was chosen?
In Ciudad Diagonal in Esplugues de Llobregat; in other words, in Barcelona. We chose this location because it was next to the Casa Moratiel (Josep Maria Sostres, 1955 - 1957), a jewel of Catalan rationalist architecture, and because it gave us the space to build our own corporate building.
What do you like most about the neighborhood where you work?
We are very well connected. For us the studio is in Barcelona; we believe that the city is not limited by existing boundaries.
How important is Barcelona for your company?
Barcelona has been crucial for us. We have grown as a company since 1981, in step with the growth and transformation of the city. We have gone out into the world as “part” of the city.
With which city would you compare Barcelona?
Copenhagen, Amsterdam, Boston, Rotterdam, etc. The sea has always been one of our main assets; we need to embrace the physical and geographical location of the city.
What form of urban model should Barcelona adopt?
Copenhagen and Amsterdam are excellent models of sustainable mobility; Rotterdam and Miami, of the blue economy; and Boston, of knowledge and innovation.
What best practices from other cities would you like Barcelona to adopt?
I’d like to see a complete overhaul of the metropolitan public transport network.
What do you ask of the Barcelona of the future?
Enthusiasm, a positive approach, political acceptance of the real Barcelona. All these would make us unstoppable…
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