#AntoniGaudi | Valentina Expressions

Depth | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/depth by BEN HUBERMAN

I cannot think of a person, designer or architect who has put so much depth in his work more than Catalan Architect Antoni Gaudi. One thing is to see his work on books and pictures and another thing is to see it in person. Finally when I made it to Barcelona, the depth of minute details in all his work really mesmerized me. Even the street pavement Gaudi designed outside the Pedrera building was outstanding, Gaudi’s work is recognizable by colorful broken tiles and organic material, undulating building, catenary arches and unusual columns, nature references, religious expressions and a load of colors.

Park Güell is colorful, there is a lot to absorb, the depth of games of architecture with nature is amazing! I sat on the mosaic serpentine seats for a long time admiring the detailed mosaic work and imagining how long it took the tile setters to put together all of that beauty. The seats are not just a pretty creation, they are ergonomic and even if they are built with stones, they are very comfortable, in fact I sat and watched the tourists, enjoyed the Mediterranean Sea out there beyond the city in the depth of the mist and fantasized how it could have been to work with Antoni Gaudi.

Walking under the columns of Plaça de la Natura, a public covered market that never made it, I felt the heaviness and the playfulness of Gaudi’s architecture. From the distance the ceiling covered with millions of tile chips resembles a snake skin and four medallions also made with colorful tiles tell the story of the effects the sun has on nature and people. Enjoy the slide show.

Plaça De La Natura

Park Güell – Columms Under Seating

Under the stone pillars

Park Güell Garden

Organic Arches

Colorful Serpentine Seating

Ciao,
Valentina

http://www.valentinadesigns.com

I am writing a travel diary with some of my new experiences and sharing with all of you my notes of feelings, observations, food-wine tasting, history, architecture and anything that really strikes my fancy. I organize trips for small groups of people who want to live it up in Italy and Puglia! In my books about Puglia cuisine, readers will find many easy recipes to follow at home. Check out my books on
Amazon: http://goo.gl/xUZfk0
Barnes&Nobles: http://goo.gl/q7dQ3w

ZigZag | Valentina Cirasola | Author and Designer

This week WP Photo challenge is Zigzag – http://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/zigzag

Last May, I spent some time in Barcelona, one of my favorite cities in Europe. I shot photos of anything I fancied and as any tourist, most of the time, I walked with my nose up in the sky to catch the best details of architecture. However, in Barcelona in some are areas even the street pavement is decorated to perfection. Never know what you are going to find on the floor. This is after all Gaudi’s city, where the most undulated and creative architecture was planned.

On the way to la Pedrera, I saw this beautiful building on the Passeig de Gràcia. The balconies are perfectly aligned in the classic order, but the angle I chose to take it’s very deceiving, it shows the balconies in a zigzag line. Visually I like it better this way and if I was living in that zigzag illusion, I would be able to see inside the balconies below mine. Curious Valentina!

Passeig de Gràcia is a busy street, very fashionable shops and fancy buildings line this long street, where people stroll for fun to lose a few hours. That is a fun European past time. Get out for fresh air, window-shopping, licking an ice cream, sit at a café, converse with a walking companion and lose a few hours. It’s so refreshing!

I would like to live in that building, would you? Ciao,
Valentina
http://www.valentinadesigns.com

Valentina will host one or two trips a year to Italy and Europe. In Italy especially, she will take her small groups to the non-commercial Italy, areas not beaten down by massive tourism. Valentina will guide the tours through art, architecture, food, shopping and special adventures organized for people who want to live it up! Check out her books on