Gaudi but Green

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Many years ago I took the architects grand tour of Europe and ended up in Barcelona with a week to go before my plane out, sixty bucks in my pocket and no credit card. I spent fifty for a week in a cheap hotel with breakfast, five on an old penguin of War and Peace, and headed off to Antoni Gaudi's Parc Guell to read and pass the time. When I read Megan Prusynki's wonderful post at Green Options it all came back to me. I knew nothing about green then, yet everything she says seems so obvious and true when looking back at the days I spent poring over every inch. Megan says

Like many other structures in Gaudi's work, the organic forms all over Park Guell were inspired by nature. The bench on top of a room of columns undulates like ocean waves. Arched pathways throughout the park are shaped like cresting waves with columns that look like tornados, and they utilize the area's stones and clay in their construction . Gaudi used local materials in the construction of the park's paths and columns, and also kept as much natural vegetation in the park as possible. He was very interested in integrating the park's structures and pathways with the surrounding natural environment, and seems to architecturalize the natural environment and blend the man-made and natural elements together, much like his other works naturalized the urban landscape.

Gaudi dressed shabbily, walked everywhere, and ultimately was hit by a steetcar and died in a paupers hospital because nobody recognized him. So green architects and bicyclists everywhere, carry ID. Green Options