Barcelona Architecture
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If this is your first trip to Barcelona, the two-day hop-on-hop-off bus tour is your best bet to get the most out of the city. I have done similar bus tour of many urban areas, such as DC, New York, Toronto. Barcelona bus tour was the best. I think it has to do with the size and traffic of the city, and the amount of attractions that pack into the tour. Plus, you get a good orientation of the entire city. It is well worth the price.
Plaça de Catalunya is a hub of culture events as well as transportation. The tour bus starts on the plaza, and so is the terminal of the none-stop bus to the airport.
It was 2013, Spain was in the thick of government debt crisis. Unemployment was sky high. I was working in Shanghai. Many European architects sought jobs in China where the economy was red hot fueled by the government’s heavy spending on building construction and large scale infrastructure projects. But the street scene in Barcelona painted a different picture. “Does this look like crisis to you? ” I texted my Spanish friend in Shanghai on the tour bus. Think about it, even though the government is in debt, the Spaniards are covered cradle to grave. They are having the time of their life.
It is a disgrace that we Americans don’t have national health coverage. Why on earth we have to get health insurance through employers? Why do we spend twice as much on health care than other wealthy counties? Even Rush Limbaugh agreed to the sentiment many years ago. I think we need fix our immigration system, patch up the holes, learn from Australia and Canada, and go national health care for Americans!
Speaking of cultural events, there were activities around the town everyday. We ran into protesters, Catalan culture event, graffiti artists exhibit, and a holiday when the whole town shut down including Sagrada Família where I planed on visiting.
The works of Gaudi can be seen everywhere. Seven of his works were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO.
Casa Batlló
Casa Milà
Park Güell
La Sagrada Familia
Gothic, it is known for its thin column structure, earning its place in architectural history.
Natural Gas Barcelona 
Santa Caterina Market (Google map)
Street installation in Olympic village (Google map)
Mies’ Barcelona pavilion was revolutionary at the time of Barcelona Expo in 1929. The message was LESS IS MORE. At the age of post industrial revolution, the aesthetic of the mass had not caught up with the technological advancement. Unlike the flourishing art world, the architects had hard time to sell the structure-exposed glass box to clients who had never seen such image before, the structure that authentically represent the new building materials such as steel, glass and reinforced concrete of the time without cladding them with plastered ornaments that imitated ancient stone or wood building technology. People still do that today, don’t they? Ayn Rand’s great noval “The Fountainhead” depicted the struggle vividly.
exterior
We actually walked into the site by accident. To me, it was pilgrimage. I met a man from Chicago at the pavilion who lived in one of Mies’ apartment building.
The Dicks
As soon as the technology allows, the tallest building in the world competition has never ceased. It is the grand posture of power and wealth, the male ego, the dick. Among the dicks, I found the silver bullet shape the most amusing. The Torre Glories building lights up at night with LED-ed graphics, as if a spectacular condom commercial is on full display. LOL…
in Barcelona
in London
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