España...more Gaudi

Casa Batlló

Yesterday we showed you Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, today another of Gaudi's great works, Casa Batlló.

(Again, the details in his works are so amazing, click on the photos to enlarge them and hit your back arrow to return to the blog.)

The outside front of Casa Batlló

From the outside, Casa Batlló looks like it has been made from skulls and bones. The "Skulls" are in fact balconies and the "bones" are supporting pillars. Gaudi used colours and shapes found in marine life as inspiration for his creativity in this building. The colors chosen for the facade are those found in natural coral.

Casa Batlló is one of the two great buildings designed by Antoni Gaudi on Passeig de Gracia, the other being La Pedrer, which we saw from the outside only. The photo below is thrown in just for fun, we have no others, but you an look it up online.

 La Pedrer

Casa Batlló was designed by Gaudi for Josep Batlló, a wealthy aristocrat, as an upmarket home. Señor Batlló lived in the lower two floors with his family and the upper floors were rented out as apartments.
This building is a stunning and original work. It's another example of the attention to detail Gaudi spent on his designs, thinking about such things as varying window size depending on how high the window was from the top of the building. In this way he could ensure uniform lighting conditions in each room of the house.

 The staircase in the entry from the street. I think made to resemble the spine of a dinosaur.

A little parlor with two seats on either side of the fireplace. This was the spot for courting. A grandmother, aunt, or other would sit on one end while a boy and girl met for a date on the other.

Inside one of the rooms looking out the picture windows. 

The same room with the picture windows, but looking another direction. How about those doors? Hey, who's the cute guy in the bottom right corner?

The dining room, the doors lead out to a terrace. Why would he put these two very cool pillars right in front of the doors? He work leads one to ask questions like that a lot. Was it structurally necessary, or just for fun?

A view from a hallway to the stairwell. Look at his amazing use of light and of lines. 

Hallway

The rooftop. The funny shaped tiled structures are the chimneys.

Chimneys up closer.

Part of the roof's design.

He thought of everything and nature was his inspiration. This is a lightwell, kinda like a stairwell with no stairs. It is an area for letting light into the house. As you climb the stairs, he placed glass that allows one to look into the lightwell, but he designed the glass to make it look as if, and make you feel as if you are underwater. We took this picture looking through the glass. Below is the same stairwell looking directly with no glass.

He also designed furniture for the houses. A two person chair, but I think it's a fight chair because the two people seated are facing partially opposite directions. Look at the paint, the iridescent design is done with paint. It strikingly beautiful in person. Very subtle. 

Sitting and looking out another window.

Finally, another look at the front. We had to take it at this angle in order to get the cross at the top.

This only touches the surface of this great work. The terrace, the alter room, and many more incredible spaces. He designed an amazing park, which we did not get to visit, Park Guell. It is worth looking up.

Tomorrow, more Spain.