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El gobierno quería un parque. No obstante, el arquitecto construyó un rascacielos.

El gobierno quería un parque. No obstante, el arquitecto construyó un rascacielos.
The government wanted a park. Nevertheless, the architect built a skyscraper.
From Lesson 284:Contrastive connectors (sin embargo, no obstante)·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about El gobierno quería un parque. No obstante, el arquitecto construyó un rascacielos.

Why do we use no obstante here, and can I use sin embargo instead?
No obstante translates to "nevertheless" or "however," introducing a contrast or partial opposition to the first sentence. In this context, it is perfectly interchangeable with sin embargo. Both mean the same thing here and act the exact same way, though sin embargo is a bit more common in everyday spoken Spanish while no obstante sounds slightly more formal.
Why is quería in the imperfect tense but construyó is in the preterite?
This perfectly shows how the two past tenses work together to create contrast. The imperfect quería (wanted) describes an ongoing background desire without a specific beginning or end point. The preterite construyó (built) is used because the architect's action of actually building the skyscraper was a completed, distinct event that went against that ongoing desire.
The word rascacielos ends in an 's' even though it's singular here (un rascacielos). How does that work?
Rascacielos (skyscraper) is a compound noun made from the verb rascar (to scrape) and the plural noun cielos (skies). Spanish compound words formed this way always end in 's' and look exactly the same in singular and plural. You say un rascacielos for one, and dos rascacielos for more than one.
Does no obstante ever change the word order, or must it always go at the beginning of the second sentence?
While putting it at the beginning of the contrasting clause (followed by a comma) is the most natural and common way to use it, you can also place it after the verb for a slightly different stylistic rhythm. For example, you could write: "El arquitecto construyó, no obstante, un rascacielos." This works exactly the same way as placing "however" in the middle of an English sentence.

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