Day 168 : Barcelona

Yesterday my foot decided to swell up, keeping me more or less bed bound, so I didn't really have a chance to see much. I was feeling much better today so I decided to get up to see the Parc Güell by Gaudi before I leave Barcelona. I prefer his work at the Sagrada Familia much more, however the view was quite nice as it helps to demonstrate just how massive this city is.

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Day 166 : Barcelona

I've met numerous non-architects throughout my travels thus far that have visited the Sagrada Familia and can't stop raving about it. Now I know why. Today I had the pleasure of seeing it with my own eyes, and yes, it is pretty spectacular! Antoni Gaudí was a genius. I'm still having a difficult time comprehending how he was able to design and construct such forward thinking creations, so long ago.

For some reason Gaudí's work reminded me a bit of the research being done by Neri Oxman at MIT. Her design research MATERIAL ECOLOGY investigates the "intersection between architecture, engineering, computation, and ecology". Seeing what Gaudí was able to produce along with research being done by scholars like Oxman gets me pretty excited about the future of architectural design...

One of Gaudi's many section drawings of the Sagrada Familia

Some people may disagree, but I thought it was pretty awesome to see the Sagrada Familia as an operating construction site. Where else can you tilt your head up to see such seductive structures, then tilt your head down to see the many men (and women!) working away, constructing the space right in front of your face. Don't get me wrong, I'm excited to see the space complete and empty (in 2026!), but for now it provides a great learning experience for everyone that pays it a visit.

This afternoon I hopped on the metro which took me far out to F.O.A.'s Auditorium Park. I had studied it a bit in one of my landscape architecture courses in college. Seeing it in person was a bit, well, strange. As architects we typically have a vision for how our space(s) will be activated once it is realized. You know, those flashy, photoshopped images with kids running around and couples walking hand in hand? I'm sure that the Auditorium Park does see more visitors from time to time, but what I experienced this afternoon was a more or less abandoned, over grown park.

I did manage to find one couple across the way, outside the park.

From there I made my way over to the Forum Building by Herzog & de Meuron.

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Day 165 : Barcelona

You can't come to Barcelona without checking out Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion. I paid a visit to it today and clicked some pretty cliche shots...

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Day 164 : Montserrat

Today I took the train ride up to Santa Maria de Montserrat from Barcelona. My first stop was at the Basillica then I continued upward for a hike to Sant Jeroni.

Crazy rock climbers along the way...

Finally, I had reached the top!

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Day 163 : Barcelona

Most of today was spent in a bus driving from Madrid to Barcelona. As soon as I arrived I took a stroll down the ever famous La Rambla (which is about as touristic as it gets!) en route to the seaside.

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Day 162 : Madrid

Today I made my way over to the Caixa Forum designed by Herzog & de Meuron. The project reminded me a bit of the Steedman Competition problem - More or less an adaptive reuse project. From the exterior I found the project to be quite beautiful. Very simple and clean moves that are pretty powerful. It seems like they decided to test similar strategies at their Elbphilharmonie Concert Hall in Hamburg, Germany. As far as the interior goes, well it left a lot to be desired in my opinion.

Pretty awesome party wall...

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Day 161 : Madrid

Most of today was spent traveling from Porto to Madrid and getting some much needed rest after a whirl wind of an evening celebrating Sao Joao. Just a bit of travel advice...Fly Ryan Air only if you have:

1) One checked bag that weighs less than 15kg

2) One carry on bag that weighs less than 10kg

If you are traveling with anything more than this...don't even think about it!

Day 153 : Seville

Most of today was spent organizing the events that will happen throughout the next few days. I did manage to take a break to walk around Seville a bit more. Along the way I came across this, more great Spanish graffiti:

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Day 152 : Seville

Today while roaming around Seville I noticed a few interesting things:

Like these canopies (somewhat reminiscent of the canopies in Morocco) that seemed to dress (and undress) the various artifacts throughout the city...

These...ties? Well, I'm not really sure what they are. If anyone has an idea feel free to share it with me! I thought they were pretty intriguing in any case...

A major difference between Spain and Morocco: Public Displays of Affection. There's a lot of it here!

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Day 151 : Córdoba

Typically I don't get uber excited about churches, cathedrals, mosques, etc. - But The Great Mosque at Cordoba really caught my attention. Maybe it's due to the entrance, and the warm welcome I received:

But most likely that's not it...I think I fell in love with this space because of moments like this, where you can really begin to see and understand the layers of history that have accumulated in this space over hundreds of years.

Sure, maybe it's a bit of a one-liner...a Church within a Mosque, a Mosque within a Church, but I like it. And the fact that both have such an overwhelming presence in the same space intrigues me more and more each time I think about it.

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