And here we are in our last stop in the great city of Barcelona! Where the palm trees grow freely, the architecture grows freely, and both of these put me in a good mood. As I was walking around and inside of the very famous architectural buildings, I couldn’t help but think of how advanced the architecture is in Spain.

For example, Mies van der Rohe designed the Barcelona Pavilion (was the German Pavilion for the 1929 International Exposition in Barcelona, Spain) in 1929 which is quite modern for its time. It was, and still is, an important building in the history of modern architecture, known for its simple form and extravagant materials, such as marble and travertine. The simple floor plan is the best example of “less is more“.

Mies van der Rohe wanted this building to become “an ideal zone of tranquility” for the visitors, and he just did that. After all the running around in the city, when I got to the Pavilion, I felt the calmness.

The famous Barcelona chair was exclusively designed for the German Pavilion, that country’s entry for the International Exposition of 1929, which was hosted by Barcelona, Spain.

The Torre Agbar is a 38-storey tower, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel, which dominates the Barcelona skyline. The reinforced-concrete structure, crowned by a glass and steel dome, has a multi-colored facade of aluminum panels, behind glass louvers, in 25 different colors. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to see the building at night. As a side note; it opened in June 2005 at a cost of 130 million euros.

I like Richard Meier‘s pure design and the use of materials which creates very simple, clean, yet elegant spaces. Museu d’Art Contemporani de Barcelona – MACBA is no different. I had also seen the Getty Museum, designed by Meier, with his unique design language. Again, he played with the combination of shapes, the natural light, and of course, the shadows.

To read more on “Architecture – Spanish style” go to the next post (Coming up soon).

Photos by © Remzi Gokdag. Click to see more photos of Barcelona.