Casa la Pedrera

If you´re a lover of architecture, your travel destinations always reflect this, and on a trip to Barcelona all these desires become reality.

Barcelona is a city with an immense wealth of architectural beauty, a large part if not all of which is accredited to or based on the works of the great architect Antoni Gaudí, who was successful in leaving a unique mark on the city by means of his fabulous geometrical compositions.

Among all the many options to discover and explore the city, there has always been one which particularly caught my attention: Casa la Pedrera. I took advantage of my stay in Barcelona and set off to see the house with a friend. When we arrived, we were met with the unfortunate news that the façade was currently being restored, which disappointed us somewhat. We decided however in the end that since we were already there, we should at least explore the inside!

We paid for our tickets and entered the house. Climbing the many stairs (which made us a bit giddy since the bannisters are not your typical ones! ) lead us to the first part of the house, and the staircase as a whole seemed to come straight out of a fairy tale.

When we finally reached the top, we were greeted by an unexpected surprise: a terrace designed and decorated in Gaudí´s unique style which offered views over the city.

Admiration is the best word for what I felt in this moment. Architecture is one of the most marvellous things in the world, and this master designer certainly knew how to make an impression!

The totem poles are not solely intended to form part of the structure, but are also designed to filter the light and air, which helps to maintain a comfortable temperature inside the house.

The fact that we weren´t able to see the façade was slightly disappointing, but after having looked at the interior through the grill pictured in the previous photo, this feeling disappeared completely.

This was definitely a place made for me, and I would have regretted if we had decided not to go in.

After enjoying the scenery and the architecture we had seen so far from the terrace, we decided to continue our walk to the next floor of the house, which has been converted into a museum to showcase the details of the house´s design. I felt like a child in a huge toy shop! There were mock-ups, cuts, blueprints, accessories - as we are fond of saying in Colombia, I was ´in my sauce´ - in my element!

One of the things I found most impressive was being able to observe the transformation of Gaudí´s geometric figures used not only for the architectural but also for the industrial design of Casa la Pedrosa.

Descending to the next level, we were able to appreciate what everyday life was like in the house and learned something about Gaudí as an architect and as an individual. On this level there were original objects and pieces of furniture which recreate the rooms as if they were still inhabited, a set-up which really enriches the visiting experience.

When I walked into one of these rooms, something happened which almost gave me a heart attack - I bumped into God knows what (something very typical of me) and I fell against a table which had some porcelain relics arranged on top of it. Luckily, I managed to catch all of them as they toppled, and immediately stood up and hurried out of the room as if nothing had happened. All I could think about was what would have become of me if I hadn´t been so lucky!

After this scare I was very wary... I eventually felt ready to walk through the room again, and it was with the utmost caution that I made my way through the remaining bedchambers until reaching the end in the form of the gift shop, where I honestly wanted to buy everything - everything in there is brilliant!

To finish off, we exited through the lobby, a space full of colour, shapes, geometry and composition...it was definitely the best place to finish the tour.

And so we came to the end of our visit to the house, which despite having much in common stylistically with many other works in Barcelona, definitely has something unique about it - and this is its history. If you´re looking for creativity and imagination, there´s no place better than a building designed by Gaudí and therefore bearing his unique mark. It´s a completely different world, for some people slightly crazy and exaggerated, but for many others (myself included) it´s something entirely original.

UNMISSABLE!

If you fancy spending a weekend in Barcelona, have a look at this super useful guide, which will show you want you can do in Barcelona for the weekend.