If you’ve ever been to Barcelona, chances are you’ve heard of Antoni Gaudí. His architectural marvels are top tourist attractions and for good reason. There are seven Gaudí attractions in Barcelona: Sagrada Familia, Casa Milà, Casa Batlló, Park Güell, Casa Vicens, Casa Calvet and the Artigas Gardens.

Casa Batlló was built during 1904 and 1906 for Josep Batlló and his family. Instead of tearing down the existing structure, Gaudí designed on top of it. The use of glass and ceramic mosaics for color and texture are remnant of his expressionist style. What also makes this piece so fascinating is that Casa Batlló exhibits an equilibrated structure, meaning this building can stand on its own without internal bracing or external buttressing. Calling his architecture unique would be an understatement.

When you look at Casa Batlló from across the street, you marvel at its vibrant colors and skull-like balconies. You pay €16 (discounted student price, wee) and they give you an audio guide then off you go! You walk in and notice immediately that the house is very curvy. Casa Batlló isn’t about clean lines and angles, all you see are circles, spirals and waves. The house has a consistent underwater marine theme.

Gaudí uses natural light to illuminate the house during the day. At the center of the house is an elevator that has access to all the floors. The blue tiles at the top of the shaft are dark and they become lighter as they descend. This technique balances out the bright sunlight coming from up top Again, so brilliant!

At a time when everyone on the block was competing to have the finest house, Gaudí blew the rest out of the water. It’s the perfect house to entertain in. What better place to do it than the private back patio? At this point of the tour, I started to imagine the dinners and parties that took place at Casa Batlló, and I became envious of all those who were able to experience that. Woe is me!

When you reached the top floor before the roof, everything becomes white. The ceiling and walls of the laundry room floor were made to look like the insides of a whale. Great design looks beautiful but it also serves a functional purpose. The marine theme ensues!

Peace! Until next time 🙂