24 April 2009
Our apartment, on Plaça de Tetuan, is close to many interesting sites. Today, I walked to three.
Temple de la Sagrada Familia, Antoni Gaudí’s unfinished masterwork. Construction started in 1882 and "could be finished some time in the first third of the 21st century." (Source: http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/docs_instit/historia.htm) Pretty fast compared to some of the great Gothic cathedrals!
Plaça de Toros Monumental. This is Barcelona’s still-active bullfighting ring. Bullfights are held every Sunday at 6 PM from mid April through summer.Torre Agbar (top). A modern skyscraper, designed by Jean Nouvel and opened in 2005.
A neat aspect of Barcelona’s urban form is that almost every corner is trimmed. By this, I mean that the building footprint doesn’t form a right angle at the street corner, but rather is sliced off diagonally. The corners form two 45 degree angles and the trimmed space, removed from the buildings and added to the outside pedestrian area, is large (see below). This feature changes many things about street corners. To minimize crossing distance, crosswalks are set back from the street corners and consequently the trajectory of a walker can’t be straight for an entire block. I think this simple feature causes the pedestrian experience to be more visually interesting and even may force a more relaxed condition. For drivers, visibility is improved at street corners. And overall, there is much more of an open feel to the environment, even along busiest streets.
4 comments:
In Hamburg too the crosswalks are not on street corners, meaning walking is a zig-zag. It's funny you're so positive about it. I (a dedicated speedy walker) find it a nuisance, not because I mind walking the couple of extra steps, but because if I am approaching a street corner, I like to anticipate which direction the light is going to be green first, so that I don't have to slow my stride. I will cross in whichever direction is first available. In CA, I just approach the corner directly, and am equidistant from both crosswalks. In Hamburg, I have to commit myself to one or the other. There are a couple street corners where the light is so short that if I choose wrong, I don't have time to take the extra 20 steps to the right crosswalk before it becomes red again.
Anyway, it's not that big a deal, and I wouldn't have mentioned it, except that you also had an opinion of the zig-zag crosswalks.
Lex,
I see your point. My impressions are based on 2 days of being a tourist and not trying to get anywhere. Maybe I'd feel differently if I lived here!
- abba
PS how did you take that great birds-eye-view shot?
Lex,
The overhead view is from one of the towers at La Sagrada Familia. We were there on Saturday morning (after I had written this post) and I was thinking about putting it up on the blog here even when I shot it. The construction crane below us is evidence of our height!
- abba
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