Eixample
Two full days have already passed in this lovely city. My first full post about Barcelona is about the surprisingly beautiful district we're staying in: Eixample.
The buidling of the district began in the 1860's and was designed by Ildefons Credá. You can tell is a special part of the city just by looking at a map; every block is a perfect square with it's corners cut off at a 45 degrees angle. Credá put a lot of thought behind the design, you could say it's quite mathematical. His vision was a city made up by 550 districts where each district would be 20x20 blocks. Each of these districts would have it's own hospital, park and more. But he didn't stop the planning there; each of these districts á 400 blocks would be divided into 4 units and each of these units would have it's own munipical service, marketplace and such. At last these 4 units would be divided into 4 so called barris with their own schools.
There's even more math to all of this: the blocks were planned have 113,3m long sides and the streets between them should be 20m wide. That would mean that 3 blocks and 3 streets would be almost exactly 400m! Every block was also required to have at least 100 trees placed along the sidewalks and in the inner gardens of the blocks.
As I mentioned these blocks are faceted. It makes the crossings feel much more open and it's easier for cars and cabs to load and unload without hindering the traffic, just like in Credá's vision (but with cars instead of carts and steam-powered trams.
In this mathematical district you will also find Quadrat d'Or, the golden square. It has the highest concentration of art nouveau architechture in the world: approximately 150 buildings! Just a simple stroll down the streets is a feast for the eyes.
The buidling of the district began in the 1860's and was designed by Ildefons Credá. You can tell is a special part of the city just by looking at a map; every block is a perfect square with it's corners cut off at a 45 degrees angle. Credá put a lot of thought behind the design, you could say it's quite mathematical. His vision was a city made up by 550 districts where each district would be 20x20 blocks. Each of these districts would have it's own hospital, park and more. But he didn't stop the planning there; each of these districts á 400 blocks would be divided into 4 units and each of these units would have it's own munipical service, marketplace and such. At last these 4 units would be divided into 4 so called barris with their own schools.
There's even more math to all of this: the blocks were planned have 113,3m long sides and the streets between them should be 20m wide. That would mean that 3 blocks and 3 streets would be almost exactly 400m! Every block was also required to have at least 100 trees placed along the sidewalks and in the inner gardens of the blocks.
As I mentioned these blocks are faceted. It makes the crossings feel much more open and it's easier for cars and cabs to load and unload without hindering the traffic, just like in Credá's vision (but with cars instead of carts and steam-powered trams.
In this mathematical district you will also find Quadrat d'Or, the golden square. It has the highest concentration of art nouveau architechture in the world: approximately 150 buildings! Just a simple stroll down the streets is a feast for the eyes.
Casa Batlló, a renovation-work done by Antoni Gaudí between 1904 and 1906. Also called Casa dels ossos (the house of bones). The building was planned to be demolished but the owner Casanovas hired Gaudí to renovate it. It has almost no straight lines and no room is like the other. The building is in a block that is also called Manzana de la discordia (the divided block) as a description of the widely mixed architectural styles of the buildings of Passeig de Grácia.
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