Author Terry Lee Marzell and her husband, Hal, visit Barcelona’s Parc Guell. The Art Nouveau serpentine bench designed by architect Antoni Saudi, and the elementary school behind them, are part of the area designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Photo Credit: Hal and Terry Lee Marzell
Spring break is the time that many educators are eager to incorporate travel into their vacation plans. Teachers know that travel, in addition to being fun and intellectually stimulating, is one of the most meaningful learning opportunities available for both themselves and for their students. Recently, I returned from a vacation to Spain, Portugal, and Gibraltar, and while I was there I could see many opportunities for incorporating travel experiences into classroom curriculum.
While visiting Barcelona, I discovered it is impossible to overlook the work of famous architect Antoni Gaudi, known for developing a distinctive Art Nouveau style, which is so prevalent throughout the city. Gaudi was born in 1852 in the Spanish city Reus, and tragically passed away in Barcelona following a road accident in 1926. He is best known for his design of the city’s Sagrada Familia Basilica, whose construction is still in progress. But this famous church is not the topic of today’s post.
In addition to the Sagrada Familia, my husband and I visited Gaudi’s Parc Guell, a public space comprised of gardens and architectural creations designed by Gaudi to serve the needs of residents for a housing project. The architect was hired by Count Eusebi Guell to design a planned community as an entrepreneurial venture. Guell’s intent was to build the residences, along with other community elements, on a tract of land located on the Spanish city’s Carmel Hill. Unfortunately, the residences were never built, but, fortunately, the park was.
I loved Parc Guell far more than I thought I would! I loved the rolling, organic, wavy aspects of Gaudi’s signature style, which is labelled Art Nouveau. Sometimes the style is described as naturalist, but in Barcelona the term used to describe it is Catalan Modernist. I’m not the only one who finds the park’s architectural design fascinating. In fact, the place was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1969.
In his youth, Gaudi had been a sickly child, and as he lay, day after day, staring out his bedroom window, he had plenty of time to observe the organic and animal forms, earthy colors, and polygonal geometries found in nature. These forms made a huge impression on the child, who incorporated them in his architectural designs once he grew to adulthood and launched his career. Gaudi observed that in nature there are no straight lines, so he deliberately avoided straight lines in his designs. I appreciated the curvilinear walking paths, which were innovative in his day, and the roadway bridge supports that resembled the natural lines of tree trunks. And who would think to build nesting areas into those bridge supports, so that birds could build their homes there? Gaudi did.
The park’s grand terrace serves as the focal point of the recreational space. The famous serpentine bench, considered the longest bench in the world, was created around a playground area. Gaudi intended the bench to provide ample seating for mothers who were supervising their children at play and allow for plenty of conversational exchange. Straight-lined benches, he reasoned, restricted interaction. And the architect was ahead of his time, insisting that the seating piece be constructed with recycled materials. Anyone who visits the park can attest that the panoramic view of the city from that terrace is astonishing.
Directly next door to the terrace is the Escola Baldiri Reixac, an elementary school that was converted from Count Guell’s former residence. This probably accounts for the linear construction of this building, which is so different from Gaudi’s typical curvilinear constructions. The school was not opened in Gaudi’s day, but today the structure is in use. More than 17 teachers work there, serving more than 200 young students. As I stood there gazing at the building, I reflected that Gaudi’s decision to build a school in the middle of a park is a demonstration of the architect’s desire to consider the various needs of all the people that would have lived in the community.
Gaudi also incorporated marketplaces and vendor stalls and created an ingenious system of water conservation to serve the planned-but-never-constructed community. He constructed columns to support the terrace from underneath, and these supports served as conduits to direct rainwater flow into cisterns located underneath the marketplace. Really ingenious. Gaudi was more than an architect, he was an urban planner ahead of his time.
Gaudi positioned a ceramic iguana in a fountain built on the staircase that descends from the Parc Guell marketplace. Photo Credit: Terry Lee Marzell
And the icing on this architectural cake? He also designed two little buildings that resemble the gingerbread houses of “Hansel and Gretel” at the foot of a grand staircase. The architect conceived these little structures as a bit of whimsy meant to entertain children. And who couldn’t be charmed by that the big ceramic iguana positioned in the fountain as you descend the staircase to reach the gingerbread houses?
The entire park is captivating, and well worth a visit for any teacher who may be going to Barcelona on vacation. Keep it in mind when you’re planning future travels! Here at home, a study of the Gaudi’s architectural style would be stimulating for drafting students, and all students could benefit from a study of Gouda’s use of recycled materials and his innovative, environmentally-friendly designs for water conservation.
If travel to Spain is not in the near future for yourself or your students, check out this website for additional photographs of the Park Guell, information, and a virtual tour at this link: https://parkguell.barcelona/en/renovation-works-status.