La Pedrera & Antoni Gaudi

It’s all systems go here at the moment but I wanted to show you a bit more of beautiful Barcelona. On our first day we went to La Pedrera, one of the many notable buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi. As well as being a great example of Modernist design it’s a hugely innovative building in that it is self-supporting (mostly due to an innovative arch design rather than using load-bearing walls).

Most of these photos were taken on the roof which is decorated with these amazing statues and sculptures. To me they look like deformed heads or statues from some strange mutated army of warriors, and what with all the sun and peachy, sand coloured walls it did feel a bit like we had been transported into a sci-fi desert. It was just a really unusual and evocative environment. When the building was first completed it was used as luxury flats. Can you imagine living somewhere so fantastic?

We spent about an hour wandering the top of the roof; Christina sat sketching and I was furiously scribbling words as they sprang into my head. Afterwards, we went down into the museum. The cabinets housed various natural and manmade forms that inspired Gaudi’s designs and architecture; types of plant, animal skulls, driftwood, metal filings, glass bottles, geometric drawings. I left with my mind buzzing and whirring with ideas, and a strong sense of reverence. I’ve always thought that good architecture is like the grandest extension of art; unlike most of the art I deal with it’s so permanent, inherently useful and with such a clear reason. Gaudi was an artist, designer and an architect and had the kind of genre-changing career most people can only dream of. He devoted himself entirely to his work, eventually giving up socialising, relationships and everything but his religion and his work. Maybe that’s just what it takes?