From Thursday until Sunday I spent some time in Barcelons. The trip was designed to be a research trip which involved exploring some new and old buildings and designs. Each day involved a large amount of walking around the city but the things that we got to see made it special. A few of the real Gems that stood out in the city were Mies Van Der Rohe's Barcelona Pavillion; a place that managed to create a real cool, relaxing and reflective feel to it, something quite special when the site was effectively a building site.
Sagrada Familia, designed by Gaudi was something incredibly special. I have never honestly had shivers down my spine and been speechless by a space like I did there. The interior is pretty much completed. Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and in November 2010 was consecrated and proclaimed a minor basilica by Pope Benedict XVI.
Though construction of Sagrada Familia had commenced in 1882, Gaudi took over in 1883, transforming the project with his architectural and engineering style — combining Gothic and curvilinear, Art Nouveau forms with ambitious structural columns and arches.
Gaudi devoted his last years to the project and at the time of his death in 1926, less than a quarter of the project was complete. Sagrada Familia's construction progressed slowly as it relied on private donations and was interrupted by the Spanish Civil War — only to resume intermittent progress in the 1950s. Construction passed the mid-point in 2010 with some of the project's greatest challenges remaining and an anticipated completion date of 2026 — the centennial of GaudÃ's death.
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