Oxford Brookes Architecture Exhibition
28th May 2010
I went to the end of year exhibition at Oxford brookes University where my sister, Amy is studying for a Diploma in Architecture for part 2 accreditation from RIBA / ARB. All levels of Archiecture students were exhibited on different floors and the third year undergrads and first year diploma students were the most impressive. The first year diploma students were split into units of roughly 15-20 students and each unit tackled a different issue. The unit I focused on duriong the exhibition was DS2 Place-nomics, which looked at solutions to social problems and the downfalls architects are currently suffereing as a result of ignoring the real needs of communities and environments. This was the unit Amy studied in and her work focused on community housing around a theatre. The work was very impressive and beautifully and very imaginativly exhibited. For example the DS2 unit chose to display each individuals work in an A1 strip from floor to ceiling with a blind covering the entire length which had major facts and information effecting the project printed onto it, as you read the facts and lifted the blind the work was revealed. There were many beautiful models, a model for one unit was created of the whole area but visitors to the exhibition could chose which project from the unit to place on the site. There was another whivh had each project projected onto the site with shadows showing the passing of a day, each day there would be someone elses project displayed.
It was quite an imtimidating exhibition to go to only a week before your own Landscape Architecture exhibition opened!!
Showing posts with label architecture. Show all posts
Showing posts with label architecture. Show all posts
Design Museum 22 May
Visited the design museum to finnally see the Brit Insurance Designs of the Year 2010, and also the David Adjaye exhibition on Urbanisation in Africa. The Insurance Design exhibition was really interesting. The winning design - the foldable plug by Min-kyu Choi, was impressive. The UK plug is something which is so unescessarily bulky and cumbersome, but also tolerated without question in day to day life, so to create such a simple and user friendly solution, I think, was very clever. Other designs which I was impressed / inspired by include, a product called 'clouds' which is an installation / starage / furniture / partition wall combo creation, by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Kvadrat. Basically a series of cells constructed from felt and connected together with custom fit elastic bands. the beautiful thing about the product is that the form and size of the 'cloud' is entirely down to the individual user. I really enjoyed the creation of something beautiful which can also be unique to everyone. Also the nominees for the interactive award were interesting and often alot of fun! Bloom (by Brian Eno and Peter Chilvers), which is an iphone / ipod touch application design was fun. the idea was to create music compositions by touching the screen in different places, this also created a ripple effect visual and when the application was left idle it would repeat the most recently entered composition on a loop. The BMW concept design was fascinating but with the desciption of its fantastic ergonomic form and unusual material, and also the surreal aesthetic; all you wanted to do was have a touch - and you obviously (but dissapointingly) weren't allowed. The most beautiful intallation I saw during the exhibition was without doubt 'Soma' by Ayala Serfaty. It was a light intallation constructed of light filaments which are woven together and then sprayed with polymer to create a glowing skin-like crust.
(Below: Folding plug design by Min-Kyu Choi, Cloud by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Kvadrat, Soma by Ayala Serfaty)
I was surprisied to see the Highline project as a nominee for the architecture award, only because it feels like its been around longer than it actually has, I think. Where it was maybe under celebrated in the Brity Insurance Design Awards, it has now made it up by winning a D&AD 'black pencil' award in the environmental design category.
LINK to D&AD website
I then went on to see the also long awaited David Adjaye Urban Africa exhibition. The introduction to the project was really interesting. Different characteristics of each African country were shown through mapping the whole continent in different styles. Giving you as the viewer an opportunity to understand each individaul country in the context of the Afican Continent. However when I moved into the exhibition I was slightly dissapointed. Each capital city in the whole continent was represented through a series of photographs, intended to encapture the feel of the whole city and the urban context of each city. I felt a little let down, and I don't really know why - the few Cities in Africa which I have visited and were represented, were represented well by the photographs. I think I was just expecting more analysis, more of a study.
(Below: Folding plug design by Min-Kyu Choi, Cloud by Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec for Kvadrat, Soma by Ayala Serfaty)
I was surprisied to see the Highline project as a nominee for the architecture award, only because it feels like its been around longer than it actually has, I think. Where it was maybe under celebrated in the Brity Insurance Design Awards, it has now made it up by winning a D&AD 'black pencil' award in the environmental design category.
LINK to D&AD website
I then went on to see the also long awaited David Adjaye Urban Africa exhibition. The introduction to the project was really interesting. Different characteristics of each African country were shown through mapping the whole continent in different styles. Giving you as the viewer an opportunity to understand each individaul country in the context of the Afican Continent. However when I moved into the exhibition I was slightly dissapointed. Each capital city in the whole continent was represented through a series of photographs, intended to encapture the feel of the whole city and the urban context of each city. I felt a little let down, and I don't really know why - the few Cities in Africa which I have visited and were represented, were represented well by the photographs. I think I was just expecting more analysis, more of a study.
Roadmap 2050 / Office of Metropolitan Architecture / Rem Koolhaus
I read a really interesting story in the newspaper recently about the Office of Metropolitan Architecture (created by Rem Koolhaus) which has come up with a re design for the whole infrastructure of Europe, to share renewable energy, in a grid system.
"The proposal's starting point is the fact that renewable energy sources such as wind and sunshine are erratic and unreliable, which means they have to be supported by other forms of power. But they are also available in different quantities in different places – wind is abundant in Britain, sun in Spain – and in different seasons. The big idea is to create a power network across the continent linking all these sources, which could then compensate for each other. If it was windless in Britain but sunny in Spain, power could travel from them to us, and vice versa.
This is a political, as well as a technical proposal. "You can use this project to create integration. It creates a very pragmatic reason to integrate," says De Graaf. It coincides with work the OMA has been doing for several years on the ways that the European Union represents itself, through their design and research subsidiary AMO, which "operates in areas beyond the traditional boundaries of architecture". Koolhaas is a member of the EU's Reflection Group, whose job is to think about what might happen a decade or two hence."
Serpentine Pavillion 2010
French architect Jean Nouvel has been asked to design this years Serpentine Pavillion (a temporary pavillion which is designed by a different architect each year since 2000, often an architect who has not had the opportunity to have anything built in the UK before). The proposal (below) is intended to refer to classic british icons, such as the route master buses / red telephone boxes / post boxes. The materials, glass, steel, fabric and polycarbonate, are also inteded to reflect this concept. The pavillion declares it's presence in Hyde park through it's vibrant colour and a 14m free standing wall next to the building.
French architect Jean Nouvel has been asked to design this years Serpentine Pavillion (a temporary pavillion which is designed by a different architect each year since 2000, often an architect who has not had the opportunity to have anything built in the UK before). The proposal (below) is intended to refer to classic british icons, such as the route master buses / red telephone boxes / post boxes. The materials, glass, steel, fabric and polycarbonate, are also inteded to reflect this concept. The pavillion declares it's presence in Hyde park through it's vibrant colour and a 14m free standing wall next to the building.
below - video about previous Pavillions from different architects over the years.
Sir John Soanes Museum - 20th march 2010
"Soane was born in 1753, the son of a bricklayer, and died after a long and distinguished career, in 1837.
Soane designed this house to live in, but also as a setting for his antiquities and his works of art. After the death of his wife (1815), he lived here alone, constantly adding to and rearranging his collections. Having been deeply disappointed by the conduct of his two sons, one of whom survived him, he determined to establish the house as a museum to which 'amateurs and students' should have access. "
Wednesday 24th February
Antony Gormley Sculpture - St. Pauls
Flare II is the new sculpture which has been unveiled today in St. Pauls cathedral. the sculpture by Antony Gormley is a mesh of wire in a cloud form with a falling figure hanging in the cloud. The staircase is not usually open to the public, although it has featured in a few films, including Harry Potter and Sherlock Holmes, so it will be a unique chance to see the geometric stair case. The staircase itself looks so beautiful I would love to go purely to see Christophers Wren's inspiring architecture, although the sculpture looks very interesting aswell. Photographs I have seen of it are not so clear so really need to see it in reality! Flare II is part of the cathedrals programme of artworks designed "to explore the encounter between art and faith".
Canon Giles Fraser (the cathedral's chancellor): "Gormley's work on the human form was an apt art for a Christian church which believes in incarnation — where God becomes human: “We're just really excited at being the place where people are asking questions — about the nature of the body and about physicality and vulnerability.”"
Antony Gormley: “Wren understood proportion, space and gravitational dynamics as no other British architect of his time, and the Geometric Staircase is a supreme and elegant outcome of this understanding,”
“Flare II is my attempt to use applied geometry to construct an energy field describing a human space in space.”
VAN DOESBURG & the international avant garde
Constructing a new world
Tate modern 6th February 2010
I went to the tate modern today to check out the new Van Doesburg exhibition, which is running until May. It was fantastic. The range of design genre he dipped into during his career was phenomonal and cutting edge for the era. he originally trained briefly as a singer/ actor until he decided to be a painter and then gradually through his career became interested in typography, design and architecture. Theo van Doesburg was born as Christian Emil Marie Küpper in 1883 in Uttrecht, and his early paintings were reminiscent in style and subject matter to the Amsterdam Impressionists. In 1913 Van Doesburg was heavily influenced by Wassily Kandinsky, after reading his book 'Rückblicke', and began to experiment with abstraction.
"Like kandinsky, he saw abstraction as directly embodying the spiritual qualities that he believed to be fundamental to all works of art. It could be means of expressing the artists inner emotions, or of representing the mystical forces underlying the visible world, reflecting the doctrine known as theosophy."
(Gladys Fabre)
During Van Doesburgs two year service to the army in 1915, he came into contact with the work of Piet Mondrian. The complete abstraction of reality portrayed in Mondrian's work appealed to van Doesburg and he contacted Mondrian. Together with other artists Bart van der Leck, Anthony Kok, Vilmos Huszar and J J P Oud, he and Mondrian founded the magazine De Stijl. De Stijl, as a magazine and a movement, was a major element in Van Doesburgs life and featured broadly in this exhibition. The paintings were predominantly large canvases of vertical and horizontal grids with blocks of solid primary colour, although Mondrian often strayed from the restricted palette of primary colours. The paintings originally were based on a physical object or form, but evolved eventually into independent compositions of geometric grid and colour. I found the paintings bizarrely enchanting.
Theo van Doesburg: Counter composition VI 1925
In 1919 Van Doesburg created a new type face which i recognised instantly; It is created in line with the De Stijl movement of straight lines with no curves in squares and blocks, with capitals used where necessary, to keep the uniform shape. It was fascinating to see how this was developed and to understand the reasoning behind it. Van Doesburg felt a unity between his De Stijl movement and the Dada movement in the early 20's, there was a whole room dedicated to this during the exhibition, which i found really interesting. I was introduced to the ideals of Dadaism in my foundation year in Norwich where I had a fantastic lecture on it, however I have never properly looked into it, so it was interesting to see a portion of the exhibition focused on Dada.
Theo van Doesburg/ Cornelus van Eesteren: Perspective with final colour design, shopping arcade with bar restaurant, Laan van Meerdervoort, The hague 1924.
Van Doesburg's major inputs into the design and architecture world where during the period between 1923 - 1930. He met architect Cornelis Van Eesteren in 1922 and collaberated with him in creating a series of architectural models based on the idea of planes floating in space using black and white and the primary colours. The ideas behing De Stijl architecture and design influenced, Rietveld, Oud, De Marle, Gorin and Eileen Gray. the major project displayed in the exhibition was the Aubette building in Strasbourg. This was redeveloped in partnership with Hans Arp and Sophie Taeuber-Arp into a Cafe, restaurant, Ballroom and Cinema complex. the new aethetic he created with this design he termed Elementarism. Displayed along with the ork in this room was a fantastic quote from van Doesburg:
"The point is to situate man within painting, rather than in front of it . . . Man does not live in the construction but in the atmosphere generated by the surfaces."
David Adjaye
In march the design museum are hosting an exhibition based on David Adjaye's study of urbanism in Africa. I'm really excited about it, having previously traveled in Africa, and I also find his work and his design ethic interesting.
"This detailed survey will reveal a unique snapshot of life in Africa today, documenting the nature of urban life in a developing country, a unique geo-cultural survey profiling the African city in a global context."
(http://designmuseum.org/exhibitions/2010/urban-africa-a-photographic-journey-by-david-adjaye)
His design for a bus shelter featured in a previous exhibition at the design museum last summer (video below)
14/01/10
"The Co-op, UK
BrightFarm Systems is part of the winning team chosen to develop a master plan for the redevelopment of an eight-hectare site in central Manchester, United Kingdom. Our design team was chosen by global engineering firm Arup to develop carbon neutral, local food production systems."
http://brightfarmsystems.com/projects/the-co-op-uk
Brightfarm systems are involved in several interesting projects based around urban agriculture and other design solutions to environmental and sustainability issues. One project that they have built, which interests me particularly is The Science Barge, located on the Hudson river New York. It is a barge which demonstrates systems which can be used to create an entirely sustainable food production using renewable energy, to the public. The designer of the barge itself was Ted Caplow, who is the executive director of New York Sun Works Centre for Sustainable Engineering.
http://brightfarmsystems.com/projects/nysw-usa
Tuesday 12th January 2010
I found an article in one of the free rush hour newspapers, before christmas which was really interesting so i ripped it out and have only just found it again. It is about a new hotel design by Reardonsmith architects, located at a golf club in the green belt, in Hersham Surrey. The design was based on a reaction to the stringent planning regulations associated with the greenbelt- that is you can not build on any new greenbelt land. It is a Hotel which is sunken into and under the landscape, which means the open landscape of the greenbelt is uninterrupted. The rooms are grouped around three sunken cloisters, allowing for the obvious problem with underground buildings - natural light filtrating the building. The project is due to be put through planning application early this year. The project looks very cool, I will be interested to hear how it gets on in going through planning.
9th January 2010
I found this video earlier, it's a clip showing the opening of the new flagship store for Nike in Tokyo, with clips from the architect explaining his design decisions etc. I found it really interesting,having been to Harajuku (where the store is opening) on my trip to Japan last summer. The way in which the feel of the place is captured and also a tiny portion of Japanese modern culture is portrayed. I also found the architect speaking about the design interesting; and of course the design itself. there seemed to be so many different aspect to the design, the way the clip is shot, each camera shot you see, feels like a new building.
Barcelona
20th November 2009
Today we headed back towards the montjuic area of the city. We walked from Placa d' Espanya up the hill towards Museu nacional Art de Catalunya where we turned right and carried on walking through the Parc du Montjuic and past the Olympic stadium to the Botanical gardens. The Parc du Montjuic was impressive. Again I found myself in a huge scale landscape, providing space for large events, beautiful design; but no people. I didn't find the space depressing at all (although I did in other areas which share the characteristics i have just described eg.Parc del Auditoris, part of the forum used for the Second World Urban Forum 2004), the sculptures seemed to keep the space animated enough to compensate for the lack of people moving around. The main attraction, Landscape wise, in the Olympic city is the space which surrounds Santiago Calatrava's beautiful telecommunications mast, which was built for 'Telephonica' to carry coverage of the 1992 Olympic Games.
"The overall form of the tower is based on a Calatrava sketch of a kneeling figure making an offering. The base on which the figure 'kneels' is covered in broken glazed tiles in recognition of Gaudi (though with more restrained colors). The orientation of the tower means that the shadow of the central needle on the circular platform acts as a (rather impractical) sundial."
There are four large rectangular lawns and the area is paved in large pale slabs all over. The pillars down the side of the lawns combined with the bright shining white colours of the site and combined again with the enormous scale of everything on the site, give it a slightly Grecian feel; which is actually very fitting to it's purpose as the Olympic village. From the direction we viewed the famous mast, there were pretty wire sculptures in the foreground, which I really liked; I felt they gave an elegant and simplistic detail to the otherwise vast space.
Above and Below: Santiago Calatrava's beautiful telecommunications mast, with the wire sculptures in the foreground
After The park we visited the Botanical Gardens which are positioned high up on the hillside and have beautiful views over the city to the mountains behind. The Gardens were designed by an interdisciplinary team comprising the architects Carlos Ferrater and Josep Lluís Canosa, the landscape architect Bet Figueras, the horticulturalist Artur Bossy and the biologist Joan Pedrola. The two main considerations during the design of the Gardens were:"Firstly, how the vegetation was to be structured. It was important to plan the layout according to geographic criteria, grouping the plants according to the world’s five Mediterranean regions. Within these regional groupings, moreover, the plants should be combined according to ecological affinity, that is to say, recreating landscapes as they are found in nature.
The second consideration involved creating a project in which the mountain itself provided the topographic conditions for establishing the different plant areas in the Garden. This entailed designing the network of paths around the natural relief and avoiding large earth moving operations as far as possible."
http://www.jardibotanic.bcn.es/11_eng.htm
The result of these two considerations meant a network of paths was created around a series of triangular plots to accommodate the principle plant communities found in Mediterranean climates around the world. Attention was also paid to the available space, mountain slope and soil condition. The design of the space is very clean and beautiful the pathways are cut into the mountainside and seating areas and areas of change in level have different angled triangular shaped retaining walls clad in corten steel. The use of the rusty looking corten steel, brings a different texture to the gardens and creates swathes of orange- brown colour, which complements and enhances the plants around it. There are trellises above some of the seating areas, created by many cords of wire pulled straight and at such angles to each other that the overall finish is a large curve of wire, with climbers making their way along it. I loved the wonder around looking at all the different plant species, you feel above the city and away from the bustle and noise of the city; it' is a very calming and serene place to be. I really appreciated the design of the Gardens, I think it's my favorite piece of Landscape architecture I have seen on this field trip. Especially the pond, the way the triangular shapes are used ti hide and reveal ares of the pond is very beautiful, and the planting surrounding it is perfect.
Above: the pond in the Botanic Gardens
Above and Below: The trellises over seating areas, and a small amphitheater area, which shows well the style in which the entire site was built.
Below: Some level changes and example of how areas are cut out of the mountainside and lined with corten steel.
Barcelona
19th November 2009
Park Guell was where we started today. Designated a UNESCO world heritage site, it is a stunning piece of work by Antoni Gaudi and a unique example of Art Nouveau landscape architecture. The situation of the park on the hill el Carmel in the Gracia district of Barcelona means the views across the city towards the sea are beautiful. The site was initially intended to be a series of 60 plots for luxury houses, with beautiful views across the city and the advantage of clean air. The mastermind behind this was Count Eusebi Guell, who concieved the project based on the English garden city movement ( which is an approach to urban planning where communities are self-contained and surrounded by greenbelts). Guell moved into the only existing house on the site, Muntaner de Dalt House, in 1906, at this time Gaudi also moved into one of only two houses to be built at this stage (neither designed by him) la Torre Rosa. The park was built between 1900 and 1914 and became a public park in 1922, after failing as a residential site. We entered the park at the grand entrance, one of the only planned things to be built, along with two houses, 3km of paths, a hippostyle (pillared) hall (designed to be a market) and beautiful terrace. we headed up the first stairway guarded by the famous mosaic lizard and turned left past the school and saw some archways and pillars in a strange mottled bubbling stone, which gave it a sort of grotto/ lord of the rings kind of feel. We then headed to the main terrace a huge space surrounded by the waving and curving mosaic seat, and with views over Barcelona. The detail of the polychrome mosiacs, made from ceramic pots, tiles and broken stone, is beautiful, i couldn't help but wonder how long it must have taken. The shape of the seating surrounding the terrace is said to have been designed by Gaudi based on a naked woman sitting in wet clay and the shape her buttocks would leave. The curving style of the bench creates semicircular nodes where people can sit and talk facing each other or in small groups. We then walked through the park following the unusual elevated road and walkways, Jutting out from the hillside, built like viaducts, so providing pathways underneath them and supported by tree like columns. The reason for the roads being elevated is to preserve the nature of the area, Gaudi also used local stone in building the pathways, so as to minimise the impact on the landscape and knit his design into the existing landscape. We reached the top where there is a huge cross and spectacular views across the city and all the way to the sea and the Montjuic area of the city which we visited on tuesday.
Above and Below: Examples of the mosaic all around the park and the view from the main terrace, across the city.
Below: an example of the sturdy pillars in local stone found in the park.
Below: the viaduct walk and road ways through the park intended to preserve the nature.
We then headed back to the station and to Parc de nou Barris, which is a new park built on the site of Santa creu mental institute, building work started in 1998 and the park was awarded The European Prize for Urban Public Space in 2008. The park spans the distance between Placa Karl Marx and the old Hospital, and negotiates the level change in a series of terraces, separated by retaining banks and connected by ramps, these terraces are shaped as triangles as are most other elements to the park. Roads and paths cut through the triangle features and the main road which crosses through the middle of the park, Passeig de Fabra i Puig, can be crossed by a wide pedestrian bridge, which connects the two sides of the park. there are also vertical triangular structures at points in the park which provide shade and at night, light. These structures are reminiscent of palms bending into the wind, the two arms of the structures which are joined at the bottom then divert from each other to form a triangular head crossed and connected by what look like slats of plastic or fibre glass. The most impressive area, I thought, was the boardwalk which leads you over the pond to the building. the walkway was split into triangular shapes so that at the points where they joined there was a risk factor in crossing from triangle to triangle; this was my favorite area of the park. The overall feel to the park was that it needed some attention, I felt that the design was being let down by the state of disrepair it was in, which is a shame because I liked the bold use of geometric shapes and sharp angles. Another interesting feature of the park was the interactive fountains at the bottom of the terraces. you had to see-saw on a metal box to make the fountains work; i thought it was a very clever and interesting idea, but unfortunately, like the rest of the park, the area was run down and some of the fountains no longer worked.
Above: The interactive fountains at Parc de nou Barris. Below: The risky boardwalk over the pond in Parc de nou Barris
On the way back to the station we were distracted by a spectacular fountain, which sprayed water up into the air, which then fell and splashed onto a huge rectangluar rusted box on legs and cascaded down to the rectangular pool below, the fountain was complemented by surrounding geometric shapes and linear planting styles. (Below)
We then headed back to the waterfront and Barcelonetta via Gas natural Headquarters which was a huge very shiny building with interesting but quite clearly private (there were security guards everywhere) hard landscape design. (below)
At the beach at Barceloneta we measured two sections which are drawn and at this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/24806432/Sections-Barceloneta
At the beach at Barceloneta we measured two sections which are drawn and at this link: http://www.scribd.com/doc/24806432/Sections-BarcelonetaBarcelona
18th November 2009
Today we were completely free to do what we wanted, so we decided to dedicate the day to Gaudi. We started off at La Pedrera (Casa Milla) which translates as 'the stone quarry' and is a nick name given to the building by locals after it was built in 1910. the building was originally an apartment block, but now houses a museum of Gaudi's work in the vaulted attic, has a preserved apartment as part of the museum, and you can access the rooftop. This was stunning. Panoramic views across Barcelona's grid like town plan and towards Sagrada Familia would make it a stunning place to visit, however you are standing on a roof designed by Gaudi. I found it beautiful and peculiar, you almost feel like you are one some sort of ship, surrounded by chimneys ordered in height and undulating walls all finished with a smooth sandy colour, it is quite an experience. The museum below had succinct explanations about his design ethic, and reasoning, as well as what was going on in culture and politics around Gaudi's time. One of the things in the museum which I loved was a model explaining how Gaudi designed several of his pointed roof tops. It was a board with several chains hung in a circle and then linked at the bottom, it was then turned upside down over a mirror. so when you looked into the mirror the hanging chain were reflected to look like they were standing upright, and what you saw was a skeletal form of a Gaudi building. It also had examples of organic objects from nature which influenced his work. The apartment was so stylish and glamourous, even the kitchen had special little novelty features. My favorite pieces were the so over-the-top chandeliers and the fabrics used for curtains and linen. Everything about the building was unique and interesting, it seemed to have no hard straight lines or edges.
Above and Below: Casa Milla, Gaudi's apartment block
Below: The spectacular roof of Casa Milla and views over the city
We then walked towards La Sagrada Familia, stopping on the way for lunch. The Sagrada Familia is a fascinating building, hugely impressive on first sight, it towers and looms over the city, only the yellow cranes used in the ongoing construction of the building rival it in height. We approached La Sagrada Familia from the South West, the side of the Fachada de la Pasion. A Facade designed to represent the death, resurrection and passion of the Christ. The detail of the work is incredible. The building of the church was started in 1882 from a project by the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar at the end of 1883 Gaudi was commissioned to take over, he carried on working on La Sagrada Familia until he died in 1926. Since then different architects have continued the work after his original idea. The church is a expiatory church, which means that since it was first built it has been funded purely from donations. The building of La Sagrada Familia is still going on today, which is one of the things which made the visit so interesting. There are stone masons, sculptors, builders and architects at work inside the cathedral, so you can watch the construction as it is happening. The absolute precision and detail required is painstaking, there must be a lot of talent required for any of those jobs! After staring at the Passion Facade, we headed inside. I was absolutely blown away by the interior of La Sagrada Familia, the sheer scale is astounding, and the design is staggeringly beautiful. The pillar system is a forest of abstract trees, whose canopies interlock creating star shaped holes, which currently are open to the sky above. The pillars, or trunks of the trees are completely square at the base and evolve by the time they reach the ceiling into a perfect cylindrical form. Gaudi was Heavily influenced by nature and natural forms, using skeletal structures as a base to build from, the tree like pillars in La Sagrada Familiar are a perfect example, nature did not only influence his design, but also his engineering. Other things which he was influenced by include, his families history of working with their hands (as boilermakers) which gave him an understanding of craftmanship, and also the area in which he grew up the region of Tarragona. Gaudi used a lot of symbology within much of his work, wether it was naturalistic, medieval or religious. Some interesting quotes from gaudi regarding his own work: “I am a geometrician, that is to say, I synthesise”; “I calculate everything”; “in the execution of surfaces, geometry does not complicate but simplifies the construction”; and “for an architectural work to be beautiful, all its elements must be appropriate in situation, dimension, form and colour”.
He also said of Sagrada Familiar's status as an expiatory church: "The expiatory church of La Sagrada Família is made by the people and is mirrored in them. It is a work that is in the hands of God and the will of the people."
We then went up the towers of the opposite end to which we entered, which offered a brilliant view of the city and over the building work of the church. The Facade on this side of the church is the Nativity facade, and is dripping with detail, to the extent it is almost grotesque. You don't know what to look at first. I prefer the Nativity facade to the Passion; it seems more naive somehow, I think the Passion Facade feels more deliberate and straight forward.
Above: the exterior of the towers of La Sagrada Familia with the cranes. Below: The interior of La Sagrada Familia.
After our visit to la Sagrada Familia we headed over to the Arc de Triumf and Parc de la Ciutadella, where there were fantastic fountains pretty ponds and a huge fake mammoth that we climbed on.
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