Xmas light that beats and makes wishes take flight in Barcelona.
Plaça Catalunya is one of those places where the city explains itself. A meeting point between historic and modern Barcelona, a stage of continuous movement and collective memory, its urban identity pulses all year long. This winter, that pulse takes on a new form with El Cor de la Ciutat, the lighting installation created by Artec Studio. An intervention that fills the air with 2,025 suspended elements, transforming the square into a changing landscape of reflections, colour and movement by day and by night.
The project originates from a personal memory of Maurici Ginés, founder and creative director of Artec Studio, who feels a strong connection to this space.
“As a child I used to come to Plaça Catalunya, and I was fascinated by the moment when all the pigeons took flight at once. That gesture of movement and life is the emotional origin of the project.”
From that initial image, the design proposes a large floating topography that reinterprets the lightness of air and the vibration of collective movement. The suspended pieces do not represent birds literally, yet they evoke their presence through vertical elements that sway in the wind, through variations in height and through a layout that, when seen from the ground or from above, draws soft heart shapes in the sky over the square. This geometry, which seems to breathe, turns the public space into a sensitive, emotional environment without losing its urban scale.
The structure supporting the installation is almost invisible. A network of galvanized steel poles combined with more than ten kilometres of cables and tensioners reuses the existing infrastructure and blends discreetly into the urban surroundings. Suspended from this aerial mesh are the 2,025 translucent polyester elements, each between 1.5 and 2.5 metres long. Their dichroic finish — with warm and cool tones — turns every piece into a dynamic surface capable of reflecting and refracting natural light in multiple directions
“It mattered to me that the square had magic during the day as well. Natural light needed to generate colour and reflections, like a celebration that happens even without artificial lighting.”
During the day, El Cor de la Ciutat is activated by the sun. The dichroic pieces cast shimmering tones across the pavement like a living mosaic, shifting from gold to pink, from green to blue. Visitors perceive the square as a space animated by wind and light, where every step alters the experience. The installation reconnects with Barcelona’s chromatic tradition: the light passing through modernist stained glass, the fragmented luminosity of trencadís, and Gaudí’s ability to transform light into material.
At night, the installation reveals another dimension. Each element incorporates a warm 5 W LED, enough to activate a subtle lighting choreography that moves gently across the square. The nighttime programming is autogenerative, never repeating exactly the same sequence. There are calm moments in which the light shifts line by line like a heartbeat; moments when the heart-shaped areas intensify and define the space; and sequences in which the light flows in soft diagonals, evoking natural patterns of movement. The square seems to breathe, change tempo and beat, transforming into a living environment.
The project has been conceived with a strong environmental commitment. All materials are recycled or recyclable, most of the infrastructure is reused, and the lighting technology that prioritizes efficiency. Its visual impact does not rely on high power, but on intelligent design, rhythmic repetition and the interplay of natural light and wind. It is a luminous Christmas proposal conceived with sustainability and respect for public space in mind.
El Cor de la Ciutat transforms Plaça Catalunya into a luminous atmosphere that evolves throughout the day and night. A cloud of light that beats, breathes and interacts with the history of the place, encouraging visitors to look up, rediscover the heart of the city and share collective emotion in a space that belongs to everyone.
