Batlleiroig

Enric Batlle Durany and Joan Roig Duran both graduated as architects at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB), and Enric holds a PhD from the same institution. The pair met while studying their degree in Architecture at ETSAB, which they started in 1973. Their friendship became firmly established after undertaking a university placement together at the studio of Martínez Lapeña – Torres Arquitectos. Aware of their exceptional synergy, in 1981, after winning a call to create the Escorxador Park and Roques Blanques Cemetery, they decided to set up their own architecture studio: Batlle i Roig.

The eighties was a highly dynamic decade. They undertook major national projects to renovate public structures, which helped lay the foundations for a new generation of architects. Along with the institutions of the time, they reshaped the identity of Spain’s urban landscape. The open-call system of awarding commissions gave young architects the chance to present their projects. Enric Batlle Durany and Joan Roig Duran seized upon this opportunity to develop projects in landscape design, urbanism and architecture.

Among their most outstanding works from that time are the buildings of Alcañiz and the Church of Alcorcón, not to mention a substantial repertoire of parks and gardens. Influenced by Elías Torres, promoting nature in the city became the studio’s hallmark. Batlle i Roig’s green, landscaping conquest includes the Parc de Pegaso in Sant Andreu, Hort de la Rectoría in Alella, Parc Central in Sant Cugat, and Parc Catalunya in Sabadell, among many others.

During the ensuing years, the two architects continued to design public spaces, and, following the Olympic Games in Barcelona, they began managing architectural commissions on a larger scale. Their best known projects from this time include: housing in Sant Boi and Viladecans and multiple corporate buildings like the new RACC headquarters in Barcelona, the Telefonica Corporate University in Belloch and the Football Club Barcelona training ground in Sant Joan Despí.

The urban development in the wake of the Olympic Games gave rise to the need for designing urban furniture and lighting. This is when Joan Roig and Enric Batlle began their professional relationship with the Urban Division of Santa & Cole, today Urbidermis, collaborating in the creation of elements for a city being renatured and in emblematic projects. This relationship, which has grown over the years, remains alive in projects like the Avenida Meridiana (2017), the coverage of the Ronda de Dalt (2018) or the Parc dels Ocellets in L’Hospitalet (2011).

Since 1984, they have maintained a connection with teaching, giving classes at the Barcelona School of Architecture (ETSAB), the Vallès School of Architecture (ETSAV) and on the Architecture master’s at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).

Batlle i Roig have collaborated in the design of a number of different products for Urbidermis. The Atlántida drinking fountain (1991), Moon bench (1994), the bench and streetlight 108 (2007), and the Vía Láctea streetlight and pergola (1990).