The city of Barcelona has announced the five finalist teams selected to advance in the international competition for Liceu Mar, a new cultural venue planned for the Port Vell waterfront. Promoted by the Gran Teatre del Liceu in collaboration with the Port of Barcelona, the project is conceived as a second venue for the historic institution, expanding its artistic and civic role while strengthening its international presence. Bringing together a group of internationally recognized and locally rooted practices, the shortlist underscores the project's global relevance, with the winning proposal expected to be announced in autumn 2026.
Conceived as a cultural hub connecting the city with the sea, Liceu Mar aims to extend the Liceu's activities beyond its existing facilities while increasing accessibility to wider audiences. The project seeks to position the institution as a more open and inclusive platform, accommodating performance, education, and research programs. Located at Moll d'Espanya, the intervention also involves the transformation of a large waterfront area, where the building footprint will occupy only a limited portion of the site, integrating architecture with public space and landscape to establish a new civic focal point along the port.
The competition was launched as a two-phase international process, attracting submissions from leading architecture and urban design practices. The first phase focused on evaluating portfolios and conceptual approaches, resulting in a highly competitive selection process led by a jury chaired by Martha Thorne. The five shortlisted teams: SANAA with Camps Felip Arquitectura, a Catalan practice; Batlle i Roig with Snøhetta; Barozzi Veiga with the Barcelona-based studio MAIO and the Madrid-based practice Burgos & Garrido; Sou Fujimoto with GRAS, based in Mallorca and Aldayjover, a Barcelona-based landscape studio; and David Chipperfield Architects alongside b720 and Creus e Carrasco Arquitectos, reflect a range of approaches across architecture, urbanism, acoustics, and media technologies, combining international experience with local expertise.
In the next stage, the selected teams will develop detailed architectural and urban proposals for the site, which will be evaluated anonymously to ensure an impartial process. The winning team will be commissioned to carry the project forward through subsequent design phases, while all proposals are expected to be publicly exhibited as part of World Capital of Architecture 2026. Evaluation criteria have emphasized architectural quality, user experience, spatial permeability, and the integration of technical systems, with particular attention to acoustic performance and the relationship between the project, the landscape, and its urban context.
Liceu Mar is conceived as a unified project in which the building and its surrounding public realm operate as a single entity. Positioned along the waterfront, it seeks to establish a dialogue between architecture, landscape, and horizon, introducing a spatial dimension to the relationship between culture and the sea. Envisioned as a flexible and inclusive platform, the venue is expected to host a range of programs, from new operatic formats and educational initiatives to interdisciplinary events, contributing to the evolving role of cultural institutions in the 21st century.
In related developments, the UIA World Congress of Architects 2026, one of the most anticipated events on the global architecture calendar, has unveiled a program structured around six thematic "Becomings," and is expected to bring thousands of participants to Barcelona. In parallel, the city has recently reached a significant milestone with the completion of the central tower of the Sagrada Familia, which now stands at 172.5 meters, marking a new phase in the construction of one of architecture's longest-running projects.
