Instagrammer Roc Isern shows another side to Barcelona’s architecture by capturing the beautiful geometric shapes and patterns of the city’s buildings

Patterns of Barcelona: photographer captures symmetry of city facades – in pictures

Patterns of Barcelona: photographer captures symmetry of city facades – in pictures

Barcelona is known for its iconic landmarks, but Roc Isern turns his camera to buildings others may tend to look past.

Isern is a technical architect and photographer based in the Catalan capital. Since 2014, he has been capturing the facades of Barcelona’s buildings for tens of thousands of followers on Instagram at @barcelonafacades.

Cropped to exclude context, the minimalist imagery presents the different textures and patterns of the city’s architecture.



“I’m interested in geometrical shapes, patterns, colours and shadows, and obsessed with symmetries and perspective,” he says.



He believes Barcelona’s different districts offer a varied urban style and an “inexhaustible source of possibilities”, allowing him to discover new areas through photography.

Isern is a self-taught photographer and says there has been a learning curve in creating a visual style. “I’ve always loved the straight facade shots, but when I started on Instagram I wasn’t sufficiently dominating the technique to take and edit good photos.”



The trick lies in taking the photo as perpendicular as possible to the building’s facade, and making sure the frame is free of obstacles such as cables, trees and street lights.

“The most visible and accessible part of the architecture are the facades, and if they are shown through photography with sensitivity and good taste, they offer a great reward,” he says.

A selection of our favourite images are below.

Guardian Cities brings together the best in urban photography on Instagram at @guardiancities. Tag your best shots with #guardiancities and we’ll feature our favourites on the account.



⠀ La Vall d'Hebron. Barcelona. #BarcelonaFacades #Architecture #Barcelona A post shared by barcelona facades (@barcelonafacades) on Mar 29, 2017 at 11:45am PDT

⠀ Sant Gervasi. Barcelona. #BarcelonaFacades #Architecture #Barcelona A post shared by barcelona facades (@barcelonafacades) on Mar 28, 2017 at 12:10pm PDT

⠀ Cal Drapaire o La Concepció. La Font de la Guatlla. Barcelona. #BarcelonaFacades #Architecture #Barcelona A post shared by barcelona facades (@barcelonafacades) on May 16, 2017 at 12:12pm PDT

⠀ L'Eixample. Barcelona. #BarcelonaFacades #Architecture #Barcelona A post shared by barcelona facades (@barcelonafacades) on Sep 18, 2016 at 6:34am PDT

⠀ Les Corts. Barcelona. ───────────────── #BarcelonaFacades #Architecture #Barcelona A post shared by barcelona facades (@barcelonafacades) on Aug 8, 2015 at 6:26am PDT

───────────────── La Marina de Port. Barcelona. ───────────────── #BarcelonaFacades #Architecture #Barcelona ⠀ A post shared by barcelona facades (@barcelonafacades) on Apr 20, 2015 at 12:38pm PDT

───────────────── L'Eixample. Barcelona. ───────────────── #BarcelonaFacades #Architecture #Barcelona ⠀ A post shared by barcelona facades (@barcelonafacades) on Feb 15, 2015 at 10:20am PST

⠀ L'Eixample. Barcelona. #BarcelonaFacades #Architecture #Barcelona ⠀ A post shared by barcelona facades (@barcelonafacades) on Apr 8, 2016 at 5:44am PDT

⠀ El Gòtic. Barcelona. #CasaBrunoCuadros #CasadelsParaigües #BarcelonaFacades #Architecture #Barcelona ⠀ A post shared by barcelona facades (@barcelonafacades) on Apr 2, 2016 at 5:52am PDT

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