Oh My Gaudi
Exploring Barcelona’s Curves and Corners of Architectural Brilliance
How I Met Your Mother was one of my favourite shows growing up. Watching endless reruns became such a ritual that I could effortlessly complete the dialogues. In the show, New York becomes more than just a setting — it’s a character itself. Ted Mosby, the passionate architect lead, faces a tough decision to relocate to Chicago for his career. The struggle is real as he’s deeply attached to the city. But when he decides to do so, he goes to the Empire State Building and shares his feelings on how he “hates the thought of leaving Empy”.
When I watched this as a 14 year old, I delve deep into architecture as a concept and discover why Chicago and New York are renowned for their distinctive and influential architecture.
To bid farewell to 2023, I embarked on a trip to Europe, and Barcelona emerged as one of my final destinations. When Barcelona comes to mind, I think of a vivid mix of FC Barcelona, the iconic Camp Nou, Flamenco, the tapas and the beaches. Once I got to Barcelona, it hit me that the standout feature was the incredible architecture. And at the heart of it all was the work of the Catalan architect, Antoni Gaudí.
Antoni Gaudí is known for a variety of architectural creations, ranging from parks to basilicas. The first of his marvels that I explored was La Sagrada Familia, an unfinished basilica that began construction in 1882. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site despite still being a work in progress.
The first thing that struck me about this place was that there was not a single square feet left blank on the walls of the church. At this point in my Europe journey, I had seen a ton of churches that imbibe Gothic features, but this felt incredibly rich in character and detail. I could not immediately point out what it was, but thoroughly enjoyed exploring this spectacular place on a sunny Barcelona day.
The next day, I headed to Park Güell, a cool hilltop park. It’s a UNESCO world heritage site as well, and you don’t need a detective to figure out Gaudí was behind it. Something about his style stood out again — those mosaic walls and uniquely detailed, uneven shapes. Though these are part of his signature, I sensed I was still overlooking a crucial aspect.
Next on my agenda was a visit to two of his famous buildings on the same street — Casa Batlló and Casa Milà. As I saw a sea of people outside these buildings, I realised how Gaudi is deeply engrained into Catalan culture. These 2 buildings gave away the last and the most important trait that I was missing out on. A signature Antoni Gaudi building is not just extremely well detailed with figurines and mosaic tiles, but the beauty is that none of them have straight lines or sharp corners!
The more you inspect, the more unbelievable it is that he pulled it off. Buildings with no sharp corners or straight lines, be it on the corner of a street or one of the world’s largest churches, those classic (scaleable!) Gaudí traits just ooze out. I dug up the internet to know more about why he did what he did, and found out that Gaudi often said:
I do not want to create straight lines and sharp corners because they do not exist in nature. Nature is all curves, organic shapes, and flowing lines. My architecture is a reflection of the natural world, an attempt to capture its beauty and harmony.
While I had a great time visiting Barcelona, the only 2 things that will make me want to go back are: To watch an FC Barcelona game in Camp Nou, and to revisit the Sagrada Familia once it’s complete, which is estimated to be sometime in 2030. Until then, I can only wonder what he must’ve been sketching on his notepad here.
