On Monday, the architect who designed Camp Nou, Francesc Mitjans i Miró, died in the age of 97. The "father of Camp Nou" set new worldwide standards for the design of football stadiums at the time and therefore became one of the most important figures in the history of FC Barcelona.


Francesc Mitjans, who was born in Barcelona in the summer of 1909, designed the stadium Camp Nou that replaced Les Corts and became one of the most symbolic football venues in the world. Francesc Mitjans, born in 1909, has died just one year before Camp Nou´s 50th Anniversary. Camp Nou was build in 1956.


Architect Mitjans had a difficult talks to fulfill because he had to come up with something that would be long-lasting, could grow along with the club because Barça should never be limited by the capacity of the stadium and Barcelona fans should never be left outside, as happened at Les Corts, due to questions of capacity.


Apart from the Barça stadium, Francesc Mitjans was involved in many other projects that injected a new lease of life into Catalan architecture from the 1950s onwards. He was also the designer of the Real Club Náutico de Barcelona, a rationalist building constructed in 1958, and the Banco Atlántico, which is today the central offices of Banco de Sabadell.