Gaudí’s Obsession

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with architecture, barcelona, cathedral, Gaudí, history, photography, Sagrada Família, Spain, travel February 16, 2012

The first sight I wanted to see once Jorge left was Sagrada Família so we went first thing on Monday.

A little background from Wikipedia:

“Though construction of Sagrada Família had commenced in 1882, Gaudí became involved in 1883, taking over the project and transforming it with his architectural and engineering style—combining Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms.

Gaudí devoted his last years to the project and at the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Família’s construction progressed slowly as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War—only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the mid-point in 2010 with some of the project’s greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026—the centennial of Gaudí’s death. The basílica has a long history of dividing the citizens of Barcelona—over the initial possibility it might compete with Barcelona’s cathedral, over Gaudí’s design itself, over the possibility that work after Gaudí’s death disregarded his design, and the recent possibility that an underground tunnel of Spain’s high-speed train could disturb its stability.“

First, let me say that whether or not you are religious, whether or not you are one for visiting churches, whether or not you are an appreciator of architecture, this is one site that unequivocally lives up to the hype. It’s simply a beautiful space, and we were awed by it and felt truly peaceful when we were there. When this is finished, it will be one of the wonders of the world, and we were marveling that by the time it was done we’d probably be coming back with teenage children!

Gaudí designed the interior to mimic wandering through a forest grove (literally using examples from nature as the inspiration for his forms), and he succeeded fantastically. We immediately felt like we were looking up at enormous tree trunks and not stone columns, even before we read of Gaudí’s intent for the space – it was accessible to every person who visited, and that is a rare and beautiful thing. After we’d examined every part of the interior, we went downstairs into the museum to view the model shop for the ongoing construction and some of Gaudí’s original plans for the church (and his crypt in that last photo). It was a great visit, and I am so glad that it was as wonderful as I had imagined because it was one of the places I was most looking forward to seeing.

In short, GO HERE.

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Gaudí’s Utopia

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with architecture, barcelona, Gaudí, Parc Güell, park, photography, Spain, travel, views February 15, 2012

Jorge had to rest on Sunday so he directed us up to Park Güell, which was at the top of my list. This post goes out to the lovely Nick who made us promise to visit the park for him while we were in Barcelona.

Park Güell was the idea of Count Eusebi Güell and designed by Gaudí as a planned, self-sustaining community on the Muntanya Pelada above Barcelona. Ultimately, it was a failure since it was a tough sell at the time to convince wealthy Barcelonians to move away from the action of the bustling city in the early 20th century. The idea would sell like hotcakes now, but Guadí was always a little ahead of the curve.

He designed the space in 3 segments: the colorful, fanciful first stage for the youngest residents, the more reserved second level for the middle ages, and the most austere top level (with the best view) for the senior citizens. It seems that the bottom level gets all of the attention, since it is in Gaudí’s bright Trencadís tiling, but it would have been really interesting to see what this park would have been like had it realized Güell and Gaudí’s vision. Nowadays, it’s a bit crowded with tourists (I would recommend visiting on a weekday). However, it’s free to visit and affords some of the best views of Barcelona.

After our visit, we went over to Jorge’s friend Valerie’s apartment and she and Jorge cooked us a delightful meal of Moroccan chicken, quinoa, carrots, salad and orange cake for dessert. It was such a nice treat to have a home cooked meal (that I didn’t have to prepare) and some great conversation with friends.

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Barcelona: Land of Gaudí

Posted by whitneyandjared in Travel, Whitney and tagged with architecture, barcelona, Gaudí, modernism, photography, Spain, travel, views, weather February 14, 2012

We made it to Barcelona, and it’s FREEZING! We were expecting it to be colder, but apparently it’s unusually cold here right now. Europe is going through a cold snap in general, and all the locals here are freaking out because it’s so much colder than usual. Nobody is used to heating their apartments for real winter temperatures so we are making due with space heaters and extra socks. Luckily, our bed is super warm and we have a great mattress so we just watch a lot of movies in bed in the evening. Our apartment doesn’t have internet, but it’s been kind of nice to have some quiet time together without the distractions of being connected. It’s frustrating too, but we’re looking on the bright side.

It was a bit of a rough trip over here because two days before we were supposed to leave, I woke up in the middle of the night with a terrible case of the flu. I barely managed to get packed up, and then on the day we left Jared had to carry all our bags downstairs in several trips while I guarded them at the cab stand. Our train ride was 11 hours and I slept for 9 of them! I toughed it out and saw some sights this weekend and am feeling much better today, thankfully. We met up with our friend Jorge on Saturday morning, and the poor dear was also sick! We were quite the pair this weekend. He was such a trooper and showed us around the Barcelonetta neighborhood, all the Gaudí stops, and helped us get oriented to the city.

Jorge was great because he is a designer so he had a ton of knowledge of Gaudí and told us what we had to see and what we could skip. We took a quick stop at Casa Batlló to view the exterior (the interior tour was rated overpriced by Jorge). The design is meant to depict the story of St. George and the Dragon, and sits in a row of other apartment buildings designed by other important modernists of the time. In fact, the building next door was designed by Gaudí’s closest competitor.

scales of the dragon

even the sidewalk tiles were designed by Gaudí

Next we walked up to La Pedrera (Casa Milá). Jorge had seen it a few times and he insisted we had to experience the interior, so he paid for our admission and met us when we were done (so sweet!). It was pretty spectacular, and we learned a lot about Gaudí’s methods and inspiration through the museum in the attic.

Gaudí designed the chimneys and water towers on the rooftop to look like soldiers in the battle between good and evil. Gaudí was fanatically religious, so a lot of his architecture incorporates biblical themes, but he took most of his inspiration from the beauty of nature and incorporated it heavily into his forms. We kept remarking that that he was like John Muir in how he experienced God through the natural world.

Gaudí's signature Trencadís treatment

The attic that houses the Gaudí museum is made up of a network of complicated arches. Even when creating structure, Gaudí believed in incorporating beautiful design.

The museum also showed how he created some of his forms, and showed clear examples of some of the natural elements from which Gaudí drew inspiration.

this network of chain was hung above a mirror...

...to map out the arches for this cathedral

The next part of the tour was a walk through one of the apartments in the building (the Pedrera portion of Casa Milá). It was decorated to show what it would have been like to live there as a bourgeois family in the early 20th century. It was interesting to see how the rooms were divided into asymmetrical flowing units that mirrored the curves of the exterior, and how the furniture was placed to adjust to that design.