Gothic Quarter
I know I know, it’s a common brand. I still wanted to take this picture.
Here’s the top of the open-air market I wrote about a few pictures ago. Incidentally, a continuous concrete bench lines the perimeter — Gaudí was obsessed with making chairs that conformed to the human physiology… and these things are a testament to his skill at that. They’re incredibly comfortable! If only all benches were this comfortable.
This style of ceramic work was pioneered by Gaudí: ceramic pieces and glass bottles (trash) were gathered from the streets of early 1900’s Barcelona, then broken. The pieces were fit back together and set in to mortar, producing vivid colors and a unique decorative effect.
Great story about this fountain: it isn’t electrically powered. I’ll explain.
Behind the fountain, set into a hill, is a large open-air hypostyle hall. The sheltered area formed by this hall, and the gravel roof atop it were meant to be used as a marketplace for Park Güell. Here’s the innovation: the gravel roof drains through the center of the columns of the hypostyle hall into a subterranean cistern. When this cistern overflows, the extra water gushes out and runs this fountain. Brilliant.
Park Güell is almost surreal in how far ahead of its time it was — it was meant to be a luxury gated community sitting at the top of Barcelona. The plans for it, with its gatehouses, wall, community markets and spaces, and meticulously planned lots look exactly like modern suburbia on paper. Unfortunately, the park was a financial failure and one of the only houses that was actually built there was Gaudí’s own.
Today, the area is a wonderful park where, on warm days, musicians play under stone arched paths. Quite a nice retreat from the busy city.
A plaster cut-away of part of the interior of the cathedral.
Here’s a quick physics idea: compression forces can be modeled as tension forces. And that’s exactly what Gaudí did in order to get the angles of his fantastic arches correct.
Take a close look at what’s going on here — this is a photograph that has been turned upside down.
What Gaudí did was connect chains in the pattern he wanted for his arches. Then, he attached small bags of lead shot to the lowest ends of the chains, putting tension on them. The resulting angles and proportions that Gaudí’s simulation produced meant he could flip the photo upside down, trace it, and get a stunningly accurate (and stable!) blueprint for the desired structure.
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