The Image of the City Part 2: Casa Batllo

Casa Batllo! Gaudi's most famous residential masterpiece, and one of (if not the) most favorite architectural peices of mine. Casa Batllo is a combined house-apartment building that Antoni Gaudi designed at the beginning of the 20th century. The main floor, which opens onto the Passeig de Gracia, the most swanky avenue of the city, was the residence of the Batllo family. The upper floors are a collective of apartments (people still occupy these) that share a central atrium.


Above, Casa Batllo's front facade.




"Casa Batllo enchants visitors with its extreme design and extensive repertory of visual solutions. A space where all the elements breathe, move, and are transformed, before our eyes, into elements of naature. In every corner, there is a surpirse.." ---from a book on CB that I bought there



Its Modernist facade is supposed to reflect the waves of a calm sea


















Left, windows inside that look onto the street











The grand staircase leading from the main entrance floor to the upper apartments




Inside the atrium
























An extrance onto an upstairs patio; outside: classic Gaudi forms

The dragon: a Gaudi image

Here, the dragon's back...Park Guell (another Gaudi Barcelona attraction) has the famous mosaic dragon sculpture

Being inside the upsatirs dining room was amazing. The ribbed ceiling is actually part aesthetic, part ventillation

The Image of the City Part 1: Eixample

The first part of Barcelona that I'm going to show is Eixample. I've decided to display this section first because it embodies what I believe is the most characteristic and intriguing apect of Barcelona's built environment: Modernisme (Art Nouveau).

Modernisme began to flourish and became popular in Barcelona after 1854 when the city deicded to tear down its medieval walls and develop what had previouslyu been an empty military zone. A civil engineer named Lidefons Cerda designed a rigid grid for the new system of streets that became known as EIXAMPLE. The blocks in the Cerda grid are not merely square shaped; each corner is chamfered so that one may view the junctions, squares, and plazas that occur at the street intersections. Eixample soon became the city's place for modernista mansions and high-end retail. The best architecture by Antoni Gaudi, Domenech i Montaner, Puig i Caldafalch, and others is found here.

Below is an aerial image of the Cerda grid

Left, an image of Barcelona's districts, with Eixample center





















Left, a mansion by Gaudi that is still occupied












Apartments in Eixample














Modernisme is not about pure forms and simplicity. It is about organic shapes and ornate detail.











Beautiful!






Left, a view of Gaudi's Casa Battlo, what I think is the architectural gem of Eixample














Casa Battlo is amazing inside and out; it deserves its own post, which will be next.

--photos in this post courtesy of Sean Owens--

The Beginning of the Beginning, Part 2

I'll begin my second recap post with an explanation of my academic schedule here in Barcelona. Classes are from Monday through Thursday (all Fridays are off!). On Mondays, I have studio from 4-8pm; Tuesdays: Spanish from 11am until 1:30pm at the Merrit School (it's a school especially catering to students not from Spain), then a history of Barcelona architecture class at the University of Barcelona school of architecture from 3:30pm-5:30pm; Wednesdays: a sketching class from 9am-12pm...we visit, analyze, and sketch different parts of Barcelona; Thursdays: Spanish again from 10am-12pm, and then sudio from 4-8pm. Thursdays are always our favorite day! The weekend starts early :)

There's an awesome fence designed by Gaudi in the same black as the Merrit School. Sean and I came upon it by accident.

Left, the Merrit School/ University of Barcelona general area. They are within walking distance of eachother. (Photo courtesy of Mr. Owies)

We take the metro to class twice a week. There is a metro stop, Urgell, a block down from our apartment, which is verrrrrry nice.

This is the view I have as I'm am approaching studio. I go to mass at the domed church ahead. On the left side of the block is a cafe called Cafe Mistral that I get coffee at a lot, and then one turn to the right and a block down is our studio space.

That's all of us. Left to Right: Gisela, Christi (our director), Billy, Monica, Ben, Tom, Sean, Me, Bob, Meghan, and Brian

The Spanish know how to have a good time.

(We are learning quick)

Next: THE IMAGE OF THE CITY!

The Beginning of the Beginning, Part 1

Unfortunately, I commited the wrongest of wrongs-- I did not update this blog for more than the first month that I've lived here in Barcelona. Now, I am righting--or should I say "writing" (ha.ha) that wrong.

I think I can say truthfully that I have changed since I've been here. Why? Read on.

A recap of the course of events that have occured: I left Washington, DC for Spain on January 4, 2007, landed for an hour in Madrid, and arrived an hour later in Barcelona, Spain on January 5, 2007. I had never ridden on a plane alone by myself before, much less traveled alone to a foreign country. How exciting...I hope I never forget the feeling I had as the plane landed on the runway in Barcelona. There was a sudden realization that I was embarking on 1. an experience that I had been anticipating and preparing for for months before, and had tried to imagine 2. an experience..of really LIVING in, not just visiting, a foreign country, 3. the period of time that has been the most significant in my life so far, and 4. an experience that I will single out for the rest of my life.

The photo to the left is of the inside of the upper level of Madrid's airport. Its undulating, organic ceiling is beautiful from the inside and out. The group landed in this airport again during our first field Trip through Southern Spain (more about this later)

The first weeked of Jan. 6th and the 7th was the group's "Spanish emmersion"-- we moved into our apartments, scouted out groceries, began to learn the neighborhood, and enjoyed Barcelona's Dia de los 3 Reyes (Three Kings Day, the city's biggest festival...by the way, as of now, Feb. 11, there are still streamers from the parade hanging from some trees)

BELOW....the photo on the left is the entrance lobby to our apartment building, the one to the right is our apartment building from one of Barcelona's main avenues, Gran Via.

Both of these photos are courtesy of Mr. Sean Owens. Thanks, Mr.!

We are so fortunate to be living on Gran Via. It's full of some of the city's best architecture, bars, cafes, metro startions, and activity.

To the left, our humble little dining room.

I share an apartment with four other awesome CUA archies. We definitely have our share of crazy, fun times together (Lola!)

We actually just reorganized our dining room/ living room, so our couch is in the alcove you see here. I'm not sure how I feel about the switch...

Above, photos from the Dia de los 3 Reyes parade.

What could be better than arriving to a parade? It was great.

Next: The Beginning of the Beginning, Part 2: Academic Schedule and Exploring the City