Now we move into Gaudí Square. The time from Letamendi’s to Gaudí Square is like 27 minutes walking. Follow the route in Google maps. This is the hardest part of walking in our tour, and it’s only nearly 30 minutes.
This zone is located between Mallorca and Provença for one hand and Sardenya and Lepant streets on the other hand. So the park occupied two zones called “illas”.
As we can see in the photo, it’s not just a place to enjoy the Sagrada Família, it’s a place to relax at the square too, for the tourist and for the local people. Seems there is a romantic connection between the Gaudí square and Sagrada Família. It’s just ridiculous what the “ajuntament” of Barcelona was nearly to destroy the entire green zone and construct another parking. The REAL problem is that Barcelona centers all tourism in Sagrada Família, and that’s why the traffic seems to explode. They cannot destroy the park, because is one of the unique green zones situated in the center of Barcelona.
It's a special place too because of the special trees we can find (photo 1 and photo 2).
First of all: it is not a square. It is a garden. The essential idea is to offer a mirror of water to the “Nativity” facade (of the “Sagrada Familia” Church in Barcelona). The garden gives on to the Church and vice versa.
With this in mind, all that follows is simply technique in order to make the “mirror of water”, which has been mentioned above, possible, as perfectly as possible, to facilitate its functioning and to
conceal the difficulties which the carrying out of it entails.
Indeed, the uneven nature of the ground, from the pavement of Mallorca Street to that of Provenca Street, is about four meters. The area covered by the lake being, naturally, not only horizontal, but also “testimonially horizontal”, it is a question of reconciling the slope and the horizontal quality in the best way possible. To serve this need, the garden projects itself as transversely terraced; for the same reason the sides of the lake, even though they are straight, are not cut at right angles, neither are they parallel or anything of the sort. And, at bottom, if I have considered turning Marina Street, it has been more to disguise the slope than to give the church more room than it has today; which, after all, Gaudi seems to have found tolerable for a long period during his lifetime.
A pond, a small lake, requires some sort of accompaniment if we want to raise it above the level of a mere pool. An accompaniment which, in our project, is given the form of a landscape; and, of course, as one might expect, of a “landscape made ours”. It is characterized by looking like a dense forest, like the end of a stream that widens when it comes to a plain.
By simply looking at the ground plans, one can see the remaining characteristics of the garden: the two short paths which, as they continue the steps of the facade, allow one coming from the grove to see the Church at an oblique angle, as, it seems, was Gaudi’s wish; the flowerbed which looks down on the lake, which allows an octagonal view of the facade (produced, in spite of what is said, to be seen from the front); a view as direct as is reflected in the lake, etc. etc.
The background of trees also has the purpose of half covering the houses which are unfortunately situated there. The facades of the houses in question can be painted or stuccoed with pictures of trees, a continuation of the tree-lined walk.
The walk can be used by people, children’s games can be played there. If one day the Corporation, honouring its being known as “excelentissim” (very distinguished), decided to offer flats in exchange to the occupiers of the blocks in question, and thus completed the boundaries of the garden, it would only be a question of continuing the tree-lined walk with no need to modify the project.
The plants in the landscaping are, naturally, our own, and the ones on the lake bring to mind those that are sculptured on the facade of the Church.
