More Gaudi

We also visited two other famous Gaudi creations, La Padrera and Casa Batllo. Both of these houses were commissioned by some pretty rich folks from Barcelona's heyday who were able to get Gaudi to make these custom homes for them to live in! These homes were later purchased by the Catalonian government and are now UNESCO World Heritage Sites that tourists visit for a very steep fee. We're not bitter about the cost, honest.

La Padrera was built from 1906-1912. The audio tour at La Padrera was the best of the places we visited and taught us about what Gaudi was interested in and what inspired him. We've got a stack of notes here, but the key to understanding his philisophy is simply aesthetics through nature. Nature inspired his work; starfish, waves, insects... anything and everything was a source of inspiration to be emulated. Here's some pics...

Check out the beautiful lampost in front of La Padrera...

A scaled down version of the La Padrera rooftop...

The actual rooftop is in the midst of getting some TLC...

Gaudi's "soldiers"...

The wave-like facade...

Casa Batllo, as you can see, has a modernist facade that is also supposed to resemble the patterns of waves in a calm sea. Gaudi used different shades of tile on the inside of the building under the skylight, so that the light would diffuse evenly throughout the building. Darker tiles up top absorbed more light, while brighter tiles below would disperse the light throughout the lower floors, resulting in a consistent amount of lighting for all rooms in the building!

Here's some pics of the facade...

Gaudi's handwriting...

Inspired by rib-cages...

Another cool Gaudi roof-top...

One last shot of the facade...