Sant Joan de Déu Gardens

Barcelona, Spain

At Sant Joan de Déu Gardens, the landscape once again becomes a place to pause. Together with Batlleiroig, we have contributed to the transformation of this green lung in Barcelona’s Les Corts district through furniture and lighting that bring the garden to life throughout the day. By day, the Harpo collection invites people to sit, relax, and spend time outdoors; by night, the Arne S and Arne luminaires extend its use with warm, biodiversity-friendly light. Together, they form a discreet and coherent system that makes the garden a truly welcoming place to spend time.

Batlleiroig, a Barcelona-based architecture, urban planning, and landscape architecture practice founded in 1981, with a strong commitment to environmental sustainability and the pursuit of solutions to the climate emergency, has transformed the Sant Joan de Déu Gardens into a more open and vibrant public space as part of the comprehensive renovation of L’Illa Diagonal, the shopping center originally designed by Rafael Moneo and Manuel de Solà-Morales. The project introduces a diverse range of uses, including play, relaxation, and informal gathering, within a renewed green framework that enhances biodiversity while improving the everyday comfort and experience of its visitors.

The intervention preserves the original layout of the existing pathways while enhancing the garden’s established vegetation, reinforcing its role as a green lung for the Les Corts neighborhood. Rather than a simple refurbishment, the project is conceived as a reconnection between the shopping center and the surrounding public realm, dissolving the boundary between the two.

Social spaces

Harpo offers a variety of ways to inhabit the garden through benches, tables, and stools that accommodate both individual and shared use, from a quiet moment alone to an informal gathering with neighbors. The collection also includes chaise longues and long chairs designed for reclining, relaxing, or reading in comfort. Its understated and versatile design language allows the furniture to blend seamlessly into different areas of the garden without competing with the vegetation or Batlleiroig’s landscape design.

The gardens remain active well into the evening thanks to a lighting scheme specifically designed to respect the natural environment and preserve the site’s biodiversity. Arne S is installed at a lower height, defining pathways and seating areas with subtle, human-scale illumination, while Arne provides light where greater coverage is required. Both luminaires use warm colour temperatures of 2700K and 2200K, creating a soft, low-impact atmosphere that enhances comfort while minimizing disturbance to the surrounding fauna and vegetation after sunset.

Furniture and lighting operate as a single, integrated system. By day, Harpo encourages people to occupy and enjoy the garden; by night, Arne S and Arne sustain that same sense of use while remaining respectful of the surrounding environment. This continuity between the two elements allows the garden to be experienced differently throughout the day without losing its identity as a cohesive public space.