History

The Jaume I building, like its neighbour Roger de Llúria, was originally built and used as a military barracks. Of the different designs for the Jaume I barracks that have been found, the only one to bear a date is the project signed by colonel of engineers Saturnino Rueda on 8 May 1847. Analysis of four designs devoted to the Jaume I barracks, plus the one corresponding to Roger de Llúria, lead us to believe that the undocumented designs are two intermediate versions between the first project, by colonel Rueda, in 1847, and some later alterations, done in January 1879.

In 1868 the old military garrison was demolished (the creation of Ciutadella park dates from 1872). In compensation, the Ministry of War demanded the building of two military barracks, Jaume I and Roger de Llúria –which came into being in 1887– and of two annexed military pavilions.

The Ciutadella barracks were conceived on the basis of fixed modules, with quite elongated rectangular-shaped wings for the ground floor and a further two storeys, with a pitched roof, set around a porticoed rectangular patio. Over a century ago, the Ciutadella barracks introduced the characteristic shapes of the central Eixample urban extension in a suburban landscape.

Renovation

In 1996 the renovation of the Jaume I terminated and it began to be used for university purposes, housing Economics, Business Management and Administration, Business Sciences and Humanities.

The surface area of the Jaume I building plot is 8,949 m2, with a constructed surface of 5,023 m2 and a renovated surface area of 24,283 m2. Renovation architects were Esteve Bonell and Josep M. Gil. The building won the 1996 Ciutat de Barcelona Prize in the architecture and town planning category.

The Jaume I and Roger de Llúria buildings are currently host to social sciences and humanities studies.