PROJECT PARNTER(S)
Designer: Antoni Gaudi

LOCATION
Barcelona, Spain


GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE ELEMENTS
2P, 2PA, 3SC, 4T

DESCRIPTION
Depsite being part of an unsuccessful and unfinished housing development, of which only two houses were built, Park Guell is a heavily used and loved public park in the heart of Catalonia. The park is also part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site 'Works of Antoni Gaudi".

The two houses flank the main entrance to the park and visitors are welcomed by a grand staircase that leads upward past the mosaic dragon fountain and into the great collumns that hold the main terrace, the focal point of the park that is a place for tourists and locals to site and relax side by side, with sometimes even musians taking refuge from the city. The terrace affords fantastic panoramic views of the city of Barcelona with La Sagrada Familia and Montjuic. The main terrace is completely surrounded by a long wavy bench, echoing the curves of a sea searpent, with perfectly shaped dents for comfortable sitting and the curves forming comfortable group seating. Holes were placed in the backs so that the water on the bench would drain out into a runnel that runs along the outside of the bench.

Art can be seen in many forms throughout the park from colonnaded pathways made of individual stones to form tree-like structures, to unique tiles to the curing form of the bench along the main terrace and the colorful dragon fountain. The entire park could almost be considered one big piece of art.



PHOTOS AND DRAWINGS


LESSONS LEARNED
what can we learn from this place? you could address issues of performance, funding, maintenance, interpretation, aesthetics, anything...

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
links, other sources of info about this case study