Barcelona La Pedrera

The magnificent La Perdrera at Placa Catalunya 

The La Perdrera is the centerpiece architectural work from Antoni Gaudi at the turn of the 20th century. He was a brilliant architect who eschewed (see I learned how to use this word !) the clean lines of the minimalists such as Frank Lloyd Wright and many others and worked his brilliance by fusing nature and the wavy lines all in one building. Built at the turn of the 20th century, La Perdrera was supposed to house one family, that of his benefactor, but in the end, because of cost overruns, it housed several families.

The inner courtyard of the building which let in natural lighting

     The layout of La Pedrera is that of a building complex and every corner does not end in an apex. So, it is rectangular but not rectangular owing to the wavy curves with no start and end. On top of that he infused alot of plants and plant like sculptures together into the building facade to create some kind of cave outlook. I cannot adequately describe it owing to my architectural illiteracy but the end result is something out of this world from the outside yet homey on the inside.

    Capped at the rooftop are these foreign looking structures from Star Wars (I am sure George Lucas took inspiration from this to form his storm trooper helmets !) but are no more than the traditional chimney with an out of space chimney top !  Inside the building there are rooms fitted out in the 19th and turn of the century 20th century furniture, cups, saucers, pictures, place mats giving the person a walk-through time machine. 

   There is a museum showing Gaudi's works and life as well as his influences and end days. He was an eccentric man who died while attempting to cross a busy street. He was hit by a passing tram and was brought to the local hospital where he stayed for 3 days in the poorest ward because nobody recognised this great architect from the ordinary peasant farmer. He was recognised by Barcelona mayor who immediately transferred him to the best ward and best doctors but it was too late. He died soon after, and the whole city, and Spain mourned for the great man who was just left to die on the street and he did not complain or protest for his mistreatment. What a tragic irony

   My rather stoned looking face after almost 14 hours of flight and our first day in Barcelona

   The rooftop of the building (at the 6th storey) housed these strange Star Wars looking chimneys which are one of Gaudi's signature pieces of work. Again, he eschewed the straight lines of the typical chimney and created these fluid rather alien looking chimneys.The building has many curves and there is never a straight line where one can take any reference from. The view from here to the Sagrada Familia is also one of the main talking points for all tourists.

    I will show more in the next posts.