FAD is the 100-year-old engine that drives the city's active design culture, in charge of dishing out design and architecture awards and grants and promoting its artists to Spain and the rest of the world. Its headquarters, easily identifiable by the huge steel letters spelling its name outside the main entrance, are in a converted Gothic convent opposite the MACBA, and continuous exhibitions are held in the exposed brick nave. These range from the winners of their various competitions to everyday, utilitarian objects from around the world. Fun stuff includes the Tallers Oberts, where artisans of the Raval throw open their workshops to the public, and mercadillos where young designers sell their wares at cut-rate prices.

Copyright: Excerpted from Frommer's Barcelona, 3rd Edition, (c) 2008, Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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