Gaudi gazing - 25 February 2007

Barcelona's most famous architect is Antoni Gaudi (1856-1926). It is reported that his Professor said that he did not know if he was awarding a degree to a genius or a lunatic. We made an early start to the day at Parc Guell, which is well towards the lunatic end of the spectrum, and ended with the unfinished Cathedral, which is sheer engineering brilliance.

In between we visited an apartment building he designed and a building that he re-modeled, changing it extensively.

His work is full of ‘new’ ideas and concepts that he freely admitted he, with his keen sense of observation, stole from nature . Consequently the structures have a ‘flow’ and empathy to them that is not ‘natural’ in a building but is entirely ‘natural’.