many people have written to tell me that they recognize the presence of elements of gaudi’s park guell as one of the motifs that runs through my site and some have asked why.
 

in addition to the fact that it is one of my favorite places and a reminder of one of the best years of my life, the main reason is because gaudi inspires me.
 

taking cues from nature, gaudi’s work is perhaps unsurpassed in its seamless combination of beauty and function. every single scrap of trencadis is a disassembled assembly of meaning, purpose and aesthetic.
 

the undulating benches on the banner by my website (etched into my memory thanks to the stunning photography of my wife erin) twist-n-shout around the perimeter of the esplanade.  the public square is a rather grand space about 160 feet by 120 feet and a great place to digest a sandwich and watch an impromptu soccer match or yoga session .  half of it is supported by solid ground, the other half is supported on the doric columns of the hypostyle chamber below. some say that these vibrant and colorful benches take the form of a snake basking in the mediterranean sun, but the greek theater, as the area it circumscribes is sometimes called, is also designed so that people can sit around in groups and kibitz.
 

another reason for choosing this setting as the backdrop for this site are the two delicious ironies of park guell. 

first, although it bears the english name for a “public space,” which it certainly is now, this “park” was in fact commissioned by  a rich industrialist named guell, with the vision of building a walled-off neighborhood (not unlike the gated communities popping up left and right across north america).  gaudí's original plan was supposed to include 60 private houses in an exclusive garden setting but only two were built: one of which now houses a small Gaudí museum. ironically, this private space was subsequently purchased by the city of Barcelona and can be enjoyed by the public.  [a metaphor for the future of DRM?!]

outside the small museum, a plaque indicates that gaudí lived there for the last 20 years of his life but this wasn’t really so. in fact, he spent the last 10 years of his life camped out at la sagrada familia, conceptualizing the mosaic spires for what already is and will upon completion surely be one of the world’s most amazing structures (it is still being built and is not likely to be completed for another 20 years)

la sagrada familia had by this time become gaudi’s single-minded obsession. so possessed by its every detail was he that gaudi allowed his personal lifestyle to suffer extreme neglect. his clothing, it is said, was in the end held together only by pins. he continued his fund rasing efforts by panhandling in the streets.  by this time he considered himself one among the poor. he no longer sought exclusivity or fortune.

though he was celebrated for several decades as Catalunia’s most renowned architect, not a single person recognized him in 1926 when, at the age of 74, he was run over by a tram and died three days later. the second bit of irony here is that gaudi made the mistake of supporting guell’s bid to ensure the exclusivity of park guell by making sure that the public tram did not come anywhere near the park.  it is said that after years of trying to keep it away, the tram struck back. [thus proving that the answer to "the answer to the machine" is *also* in the machine]

if you visit barcelona, another story that you will hear the locals tell is about a well known interaction that gaudi had with one of the bishops of the church who, after seeing gaudi obsess in painful detail about execution in the designs of one of his spires, asked him: 

“why do you lavish so much care on the top part of these spires, which, tens of stories above the tallest structures  no one will ever be able to see from up close?”