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many
people have written to tell me that they recognize the presence of elements of
gaudi’s park guell as one of
the motifs that runs through my site and some have asked why.
in addition
to the fact that it is one of my favorite places and a reminder of one of the
best years of my life, the main reason is because gaudi inspires me.
taking
cues from nature, gaudi’s work is perhaps unsurpassed in its seamless
combination of beauty and function. every single scrap of trencadis is a disassembled assembly of
meaning, purpose and aesthetic.
the
undulating benches on the banner by my website (etched into my memory thanks to
the stunning photography of my wife erin)
twist-n-shout around the perimeter of the esplanade. the public square is
a rather grand space about 160 feet by 120 feet and a great place to digest a
sandwich and watch an impromptu soccer match or yoga session . half of it
is supported by solid ground, the other half is supported on the doric columns
of the hypostyle chamber below. some say that these vibrant and colorful
benches take the form of a snake basking in the mediterranean sun, but the greek theater, as the area it
circumscribes is sometimes called, is also designed so that people can sit
around in groups and kibitz.
another
reason for choosing this setting as the backdrop for this site are the two
delicious ironies of park guell.
first,
although it bears the english name for a “public space,” which it certainly is
now, this “park” was in fact commissioned by a rich industrialist named
guell, with the vision of building a walled-off neighborhood (not unlike the
gated communities popping up left and right across north america).
gaudí's original plan was supposed to include 60 private houses in an exclusive
garden setting but only two were built: one of which now houses a small Gaudí
museum. ironically, this private space was subsequently purchased by the city
of Barcelona
and can be enjoyed by the public. [a metaphor for the future of DRM?!]
outside
the small museum, a plaque indicates that gaudí lived there for the last 20
years of his life but this wasn’t really so. in fact, he spent the last 10
years of his life camped out at la
sagrada familia,
conceptualizing the mosaic spires for what already is and will upon completion
surely be one of the world’s most amazing structures (it is still being built
and is not likely to be completed for another 20 years)
la
sagrada familia
had by this time become gaudi’s single-minded obsession. so possessed by its
every detail was he that gaudi allowed his personal lifestyle to suffer extreme
neglect. his clothing, it is said, was in the end held together only by pins.
he continued his fund rasing efforts by panhandling in the streets. by
this time he considered himself one among the poor. he no longer sought
exclusivity or fortune.
though he
was celebrated for several decades as Catalunia’s most renowned architect, not
a single person recognized him in 1926 when, at the age of 74, he was run over
by a tram and died three days later. the second bit of irony here is that gaudi
made the mistake of supporting guell’s bid to ensure the exclusivity of park guell by making sure that the
public tram did not come anywhere near the park. it is said that after
years of trying to keep it away, the tram struck back. [thus proving that the
answer to "the answer to the machine" is *also* in the machine]
if you visit barcelona, another story
that you will hear the locals tell is about a well known interaction that gaudi
had with one of the bishops of the church who, after seeing gaudi obsess in
painful detail about execution in the designs of one of his spires, asked him:
“why do you lavish so
much care on the top part of these spires, which, tens of stories above the
tallest structures no one will ever be able to see from up close?”
gaudi answered: "the angels will see them."
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