The 4 most representative parks designed by iconic architects

Okay, we know it’s renowned, yet each visit reveals some overlooked detail that catches you anew. In 1926, Antoni Gaudí unveiled a singular, unmistakable world where structures take on organic forms and blend seamlessly with vegetation in an almost imperceptible gradient. The boundary between artificial and natural dissolves in this unfinished masterpiece of the great Catalan architect. What was meant to be a large development of houses for Barcelona's bourgeoisie and aristocrats transformed instead into a magnificent enclosed garden—now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Perched on a promontory, its setting not only enhances the landscaping and dramatic pathways but frames one of Barcelona’s most iconic vistas: the panorama from the grand terrace, edged by benches clad in trencadís.

 If Parc Güell was born with a residential vocation, Parc Lafayette raised that vocation to its ultimate expression. Across its more than thirty hectares, it houses the world’s largest collection of Mies van der Rohe’s buildings. Together with urban planner Ludwig Hilberseimer and landscape architect Alfred Caldwell, Mies materialized some of the ideals proposed by Le Cobusier for the Ville Radieuse. The "towers in the park" concept—so emblematic of the Modern Movement—takes physical form in three 22-story blocks that rise from the forest canopy as if gently engulfed by nature itself. This vision of a vertical, wide, verdant city closely mirrors the ideals championed by Jesus Gallego, architect of our promotions Marvà 3 y Nature. A display of modernity that remains in full force today, standing apart from the exodus has reshaped the rest of Detroit, with occupancy rates and quality of life that affirm the project's enduring success.

Between Chicago’s skyscrapers and Lake Michigan stretched a vast plain crisscrossed by disused railroad tracks and hemmed by a massive highway. Grant Park came first, , but the site destined for Millennium Park remained little more than barren wasteland. All that changed in 1997, when Frank Ghery was commissioned by the city to craft a space woven from four artistic threads: architecture, embodied in the Jay Pritzker pavilion, designed by Ghery himself; sculpture, crystallized in Anish Kapoor’s Cloud Gate; audiovisual expression, brought vividly to life in the Crown fountain by the Spaniard Jaume Plensa; and music, housed within a vast pergola supporting an intricate speaker array for flawless outdoor performances. Though it opened four years past its millennial namesake, Millennium Park has firmly established itself as one of Chicago's most iconic public spaces.

One of RCR Arquitectes’s earliest works, the Tussols-Basil Athletic Stadium in Olot, was inaugurated in 2000. This multi-sport complex, straddling the boundary between city and natural park, presented a significant urban design challenge. On one hand, its functional requirements demanded substantial land for facilities; on the other, the natural richness of the setting had to be preserved. The solution was ingenious: conceive the project as a great park and position the track in an abandoned agricultural field at the lowest point of the site. The grandstands thus arrange themselves naturally along the surrounding slopes, and the structures integrate seamlessly among the trees, camouflaged by the earthy tones of Cor-ten steel. A masterful demonstration of how a purpose-built facility can evolve into a versatile environment through deep respect for the original ecosystem.

 Photo: 1WP, Plataforma Arquitectura, Hicarquitectura, Yo Chicago, Ramón Prat.