Adjacent to the MACBA, the CCCB is a temporary exhibition space located in what was a 19th-century poorhouse. The building has been ingeniously adapted to its current function. The extension, built by prize-winning architects Helio Piñón and Albert Viaplana, is an impressive structure with sheer glass exterior walls supporting a large mirror that reflects the surrounding rooftops. You enter via a pretty courtyard, and there is an exterior garden that has an outside cafeteria.

Exhibitions here tend to focus on writers and the world of literature, or cultural and political movements such as Parisian surrealism. The setting is inundated in mid-June when Sónar, the annual dance music festival, stages its daytime events here, and other minifestivals such as alternative film and the plastic arts are also part of its vibrant calendar.