Surprise Surprise

One of the best things about going on holiday is the unexpected places you manage to find.

For some reason, when Jen and I went to Barcelona recently, it didn't occur to me that Mies van der Rohe's 'Barcelona Pavilion' would be there.
But, after a day of wandering round looking at Gaudi buildings we wandered up to the palace on Mount Juic and lo and behold, tucked into a corner, there was Mies's contribution to the modernist architecture movement. Revered in the same way as Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye or Walter Gropius's Bauhaus, I never quite got why the building was so important. Basically, the pavilion was a temporary structure, built as the reception for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition, somewhere for the King and Queen of Spain to sign the “Golden Book”, officially openning the expo. It was dismantled the year after, when the exhibition ended, but rebuilt in 1986 because of its architectural importance.

It's not a domestic dwelling, so it's difficult to see it embodying Le Corbusier's 'Machine for Living' mantra. It always appeared to me to have no clear purpose, and so I always found it difficult to analyse in terms of modernist architecture, so focused on the importance of function.

But then we walked in. Despite its long straight lines, crisp marble walls and simple, clear details, this building flowed beautifully and naturally. It invited us to wander and contemplate, and not rush you as we did so. For its small size, the building was full of views, glances round corners, ending at either Georg Kolbe's sculpture 'Dawn', or the pebble floored pool. Each view was serene and quiet.

And then it struck me... It's a machine for hanging around and looking good in.

Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Exposure: 1/40 secs
Apeture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 49mm equivalent
ISO: 100

 

Camera: Canon EOS 350D
Exposure: 1/160 secs
Apeture: f/8.0
Focal Length: 67mm equivalent
ISO: 100