When I saw it IRL, it was disorienting.
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Everything Gaudi is disorienting at first, and then it makes sense (slowly in my case).
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I’m so glad I’ve been to Barcelona, because Gaudi, as expected, is unlike anything else anywhere.
My experience: Loved the houses and apartment building, adored the rooftops, enjoyed the Parc, but the cathedral made my skin absolutely crawl. All of that building is creepy – the large view of the towers, the encrusted exterior, the strange spaces enclosed by it – except for the basement with the engineering stuff (especially the upside-down chain model).
We spent several hours at the cathedral, and I kinda hoped I’d get used to it, but it was just as creepy at the end. Halloween note: I do NOT like creepy. Of course, I don’t like most cathedral’s interiors (a bit traumatized by growing up in the 60s as the only atheist in an area with two Catholic schools and plenty of bullies).
The Barcelona surprise for me was the other Art Noveau house facades. Some of them were fascinating, although not genius, and they gave his residential stuff a context.
A++ would visit again.
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I am so glad that I was able to visit this masterpiece even once. It is indeed otherworldly and elicited an emotional response upon entering and seeing the inside that was so profound that I don’t think I can really put my feelings into words even today.
The world needs more dreamers like Gaudi.
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Those well-canted pillars out front…I appreciate the sandstone on them not turning to flinders, hung on steel or not.
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IIRC, The Cathedral of St. John the Divine still has another century or so to go.
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Glad I’m not the only one. I haven’t been to Barcelona but any image I see of Sagrada Familia makes my skin crawl. It’s like a nice gothic cathedral that someone has taken a blowtorch to.
I’m also not into Hundertwasser, so maybe it’s just not for me.
I do, so it’s not just that.
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I was in a rush to capture the amazing roof of Casa Milà, that I never doubled back for more pics. The flow of tourists through Gaudí’s houses was incredible and felt very much like the churn described in The Expanse.
While reading the Guardian article about Khan, I could see the slide frame obscure the projector, temporarily blacking out a mental image like some pseudo Augmented Reality Picture In Picture. I totally remember that scene, and find it funny now looking back at how critical “Casinos” are to so many Hollywood plots. Also, obligatory Daniel Martinico Khan tangent:
Wow, I hadn’t realized that, but it makes sense that every customer of his would want a view of the most daring and ambitious project of the era.
You’re going to have so much fun! If you’re not drop dating and just want some east to eat cured meat instead of Jamin, to go with your cheese and tasty beverage, give Fuet a try. Didn’t find this till a Cava tasting in Penedes led me to stop the tour and ask: “What is this?!?” Found it at Aldi for almost no euros. The Blue and Red pine busses had hour long wait lines, so you might not want to be in a rush if you want to ride that. Uber at the airport is a mess and we never did figure out where to go to be picked up. 2 cops, 3 Swissport employees pointed us to a garage, but we ended up circling that place so many times we just got in a cab.
Our tour guide was equally annoyed when he described the Pope’s reaction to everything. The look of pure glee on his face as the schadenfreude washed over him while saying: “he did not like the crucifix, and felt it was inappropriate.”
I’ll co-sign on that! It’s crazy to hear the stories of Picasso and Gaudì where countless people told them they wouldn’t amount to shit because their crazy AF ideas were too grand that the small minds incapable of appreciating what they didn’t understand.
Speaking of pillars, this is the base of a pillar with a chamfer at the intersection with the floor:
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I bet the cleaning staff are thrilled with that detail!
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Our guide at Parc Güell told us Gaudí decided to use polished stone “only so high, because that’s how high the cleaning people could reach”
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That’s a considerate detail
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That’s exactly what I meant by the Expanse style “Churn” with the flow of tourist through the Casa’s. ^____^
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Also, I’d read that the Gateway Arch in St. Louis is an inverted catenary.
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A flattened one.
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You can take the principle 3D by using a membrane instead of a chain or a rope. Some of the early arch dams from reinforced concrete were designed that way. IIRC Spain was one of the countries pioneering this.
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One of my daughters – the youngest, an architecture major in college – has been fascinated by Gaudi and produced this ‘bench’ for her architecture class:
So yeah, the kids are alright, and carrying on the legacy!
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Love the flowing shapes in this design that create a dynamic transition forming an organic niche! I once heard that because they weren’t exposed to the same levels of lead like Gen X and older, the emergent gen’s are literally smarter with more cognitive capacity, and seeing this model makes me feel it even more. ^____^
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what about that the karnak temple was aligned with winter solstice or sunrise…
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