La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona, Spain)

Last one from Barcelona. Part III - 45. La Sagrada Familia (Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain). A UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The first word that popped into my head when i saw the Sagrada Familia was 'grotesque'. The building is beyond huge, towers over the city, and is anything but delicate.

Up close and personal though, it was spectacular. The architecture is brilliant. If i recall correctly, in order to get the structure correct, Gaudi first built the model upside down and suspended it, to determine there the weights fall. I believe a model can be seen in the museum, which is in the basement of the church.

The inside is structured after trees, with the trunks as the pillars, and the weights distributed above, modeled after branches.

We saw the Sagrada Familia on 27th March 2008.

La Pedrera, Barcelona

Another Gaudi one in Barcelona. Part II - 33. La Pedrera (Barcelona, Spain).

Saw this on 28th March 2011. Again, no straight lines, all curves.

Mind House, Barcelona

Part I - 17. Mind House (Barcelona, Spain) is in.. err.. Barcelona, Spain. Shocker.

The Mind House is at one of the entrances to Parc Güell, which was designed by Antoni Gaudi, the craziest architect that ever was. Entering the Parc is like stepping into a parallel universe, where gaudi-ness (pun intended) and over-the-top-ness are just 'it'. Gaudi's work is really extraordinary. From what I can recall, he based all of his designs on nature, and since there are no straight lines in nature, there are no straight lines in his architecture. A must visit.

I visited Barcelona with my cousin back in 2008, and had a whale of a time basking in the sunshine. After dreary London, it was incredibly refreshing. We saw the Mind House on 27th March 2008.