The Cellular Process of Gaudi
Trip Start
May 31, 2006
1
58
170
Trip End
Ongoing
Barcelona,
Spain
Monday, October 30, 2006
As we rode in the Metro, I managed to get a quick informative read on our sightseeing target. Count Eusebi de Guell came up with a potential commercial housing plan, high above Barcelona's growing hurly-burly on the hill of El Caramel, so with all his fortune, he hired the hottest architect and designer in town, Antonio Gaudi. The housing site was unsuccessful but eventually the Barcelona government saw the artistic interest and bought the park and turned it into a municipal garden. Smart.
01 View from the top
To get to the park we had to climb almost a thousand steps, at least that's what it seemed like. Ed and I realized how out of shape we were but nonetheless we made it to the top in no time. We realized we were entering the park from the back entrance but when we saw the view we didn't care: it was stunning, yet a thin cloud-like haze covered the entire city, like fog. This hindered visibility but we could still see the Sagrada Familia with its spires standing tall and proud over the rest of the city. As we walked within the park I noticed 4 strange characters. I don't know what drew my attention to them but for some reason I observed them for a while. They seemed easter-European and were pretending to be tourists, and doing a crappy job at it too. Suddenly I saw one of them try to stick his hand into a German woman's purse, but the woman turned and the group was scared off. I was so furious I wanted to chase them down and beat them up to a pulp. I also tried to find a police man or security guard around the park but none were visible. With our past experiences with robbery it took a while to shake off the anger of what I'd seen.
06 Blue Tiles
But suddenly we came across a large clearing in the dirt path where a sort of large circular arena terraced over a magnificent view of the city. Seeing how the dirt-colored natural constructions followed the natural contours of the land, in the shape of aqueducts, merged with the gardens and the earth, I forgot all about the ruffians. On the northern edge of the dirt arena were Gaudi's famous serpentine benches. We followed the path leading to were hundreds of people were walking, toward the celebrated seats made of bits and fragments of colored broken tiles, or trencadis.
10 Beautiful Designs
Like a giant ceramic puzzle, the fragments all shone in the blaze of the sun, making the bright light refract off the curves and counter-curves of the benches. From intense cherry reds and bright magentas going to salmon pink and bergamot oranges, down to ripe lemon and baby-duck yellows, the beautifully decorated broken tiles adorned the entire length of the benches where people either sat for lunch, or posed for pictures, or just sat quietly to read a book. 
34 Pretty Ceiling
We walked further down and realized the serpentine benches served as the roof of the Hypostyle Chamber, also called the Chamber of a Hundred Columns, (even though there's only 96). There were wolf-looking gargoyles which, as in any Gothic construction (which this was not), served as water sprouts. The large robust columns imitated the Greek Doric order in an exaggerated geometrically fashion, almost cartoon-like. The hexagonal looking ceiling was decorated with small fragments of beautiful pearl-colored tiles, as were the trunks of the large columns. The empty spaces of ceiling had large colorful medallions designed by Josep Maria Jujol, Gaudi's right hand in all his works. The space was originally thought out to be a marketplace.
36 Gaudi Lizard
Further down we found the main entrance of the park, where we were supposed to have entered the park. I was glad I saved the best part of the park for last though. The world-famous blue-tiled lizards spewing water from its mouth was impossible to take a picture with. Hundreds of tourists were in the way and everyone wanted a picture. Some extremely rude German tourists were trying to actually sit on top of this sculpture for a picture. If they only knew this park and it's works of art were a part of UNESCO's World Cultural heritage maybe they wouldn't be so negligent and careless. I honestly felt like they needed a beating just like the eastern-European pick-pockets earlier on. We exited the Park and headed back towards town. It was still pretty early in the afternoon and we had time for one more attraction before it got dark. We decided Batlló House would be the perfect place for a Gaudi-filled afternoon, considering the last time we had wanted to go it was closed.
39 Bone Structure of Casa Batllo
Batlló House was constructed by Gaudi for a textile magnate, Josep Batlló, and his family. The richly decorated exterior has become emblematic for Gaudi's work and Barcelona itself. The entrance fee was a ghastly 16€ each but it included the audio-guide which I thought would be fun. As we stood in line waiting to get in, Ed and I looked up and saw the magnificent bone-like structure of the building, like a skeleton. We later learned that this building was named "La Casa dels Ossos", or the House of Bones.
44 Whrilpool lamp
When we were let inside, I marveled on the amazing Art Nouveau interiors (called Modernista in Spain) made of noble woodwork, colored glass and tiles. As the gentle voice in the audio guide mentioned, Gaudi's main objective was to have light and air pass through the entire house. This was successful via various tricks and ingenious designs Gaudi thought up of. Optional wooden ventilation shafts under the windows, doors made of colored glass to allow light to pass from one room to another, tiny skylights next to the doors, in the staircases and the bathrooms. Everything was thought out a million times and having been inspired by Nature, Gaudi did not go wrong. My favorite spots were the mushroom-shaped chimney area where there was a double-seated space for lovers, and right in front of it a single seat for a chaperone. The other stunning feature I loved was the whirlpool effect on the ceiling of the drawing room, culminating in a beautiful sun shaped chandelier. 
53 Attic
The attic area of the house where the laundry and the servant quarters were are the most unreal. The succession of arches that Gaudi designed himself makes you feel like you're dwelling in the rib cages of a whale. Light and air ingeniously pass through the arches naturally illuminating the space making it almost surreal. But when you think about it, the design is so simple yet so complicated, you can't help but feel admiration and awe of this Catalan designer. The undulating rhythms and the organic imagery of these interiors create a feeling that the house lives and breathes. A Gaudí historian, Philippe Thiébaut, has suggested that the rooms of the Batlló apartment unfold like a process of cellular growth. A unique description. 
56 The Belly of the Dragon
We went up to the roof, to where the bizarre colored-chimneys were. They randomly stuck out of the ground, looking like steel-armored knights creating a defensive wall against the most impressive part of the exterior: the dragon belly that lay over the edge of the roof was said to be the dragon killed by Saint George, or Sant Jordi, the patron saint of Barcelona. 
60 Sunset in Barcelona
The sun started to go down over Barcelona so we headed back to our hostel, in the hopes to give our tired feet some rest. On the walk back I thought about the million details an architect has to keep in mind in a project. The difference between a stunning room and a boring one is when those tiny details all work out together in a perfectly beautiful system. In Barcelona people take architecture and design very seriously, it's no wonder there's a designer in one out of every three families here. It's no accident Gaudi was born in Barcelona; he understood architecture to be a complete art form, for which reason his creativity extended to each and every one of the elements that make up his work, from balustrades to door knobs, from mirrors to lampshades, from beginning to end. 
