"Mundane" Designs
The first few posts here will be from my recent trip to Barcelona, just a few musings on the wonderful city...
When considering the design of a city, at least in America, streetlamps and sidewalk bricks are not the first thing that come to mind. Their form is lost in their function; they are nothing but pure functionality. There is nothing spectacular about most American streetlamps. It rises above the street, and if doing its job, it illuminates the area underneath it. It ends with that. It is nothing to look at during the day but a steel rod. The sidewalks of America are largely nothing more than a big cement area with cracks forming large squares and rectangles and most of the time also going haphazardly every which way, though these kind are not intended. Sidewalks are nothing nice, but rather, just for walking.
In Barcelona, the exact opposite is the case with both of these everyday urban forms. Most streetlamps are large black iron casings with a bright white light inside, clustered in groups of three. While being great to look at during the day, at night, they illuminate the streets wonderfully. Though this is their dominating form, there are other lamp designs as well. In the Placa Reial, the lamps in the center are said to be Gaudi’s first designs. They are intricate, and true to Gaudian aesthetics, vibrant and nearly alive. Not what you’d expect from something as “mundane” as a streetlamp. In New York do we walk through Washington Square Park and point out how the lamps are Gwathmey Siegel’s first designs? No. Though in many of New York’s parks the lamps may be somewhat more interesting than elsewhere, their design is not particularly notable.
And the sidewalks—in Barcelona, the bricks vary from block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood. In many places they are stately and fairly large, but in other places they may be circular with intricate carvings repeated from brick to brick. They’re still just as easy to walk on. The transformation of the everday—the lamp and the sidewalk—into something more elegant is exactly what gives this city its character. While these aspects go unnoticed consciously, there is no doubt in my mind that they subconsciously invite people to the streets, welcoming them heartily.
Maybe that’s why people seem to walk the streets here more than anywhere else.
When considering the design of a city, at least in America, streetlamps and sidewalk bricks are not the first thing that come to mind. Their form is lost in their function; they are nothing but pure functionality. There is nothing spectacular about most American streetlamps. It rises above the street, and if doing its job, it illuminates the area underneath it. It ends with that. It is nothing to look at during the day but a steel rod. The sidewalks of America are largely nothing more than a big cement area with cracks forming large squares and rectangles and most of the time also going haphazardly every which way, though these kind are not intended. Sidewalks are nothing nice, but rather, just for walking.
In Barcelona, the exact opposite is the case with both of these everyday urban forms. Most streetlamps are large black iron casings with a bright white light inside, clustered in groups of three. While being great to look at during the day, at night, they illuminate the streets wonderfully. Though this is their dominating form, there are other lamp designs as well. In the Placa Reial, the lamps in the center are said to be Gaudi’s first designs. They are intricate, and true to Gaudian aesthetics, vibrant and nearly alive. Not what you’d expect from something as “mundane” as a streetlamp. In New York do we walk through Washington Square Park and point out how the lamps are Gwathmey Siegel’s first designs? No. Though in many of New York’s parks the lamps may be somewhat more interesting than elsewhere, their design is not particularly notable.
And the sidewalks—in Barcelona, the bricks vary from block to block, neighborhood to neighborhood. In many places they are stately and fairly large, but in other places they may be circular with intricate carvings repeated from brick to brick. They’re still just as easy to walk on. The transformation of the everday—the lamp and the sidewalk—into something more elegant is exactly what gives this city its character. While these aspects go unnoticed consciously, there is no doubt in my mind that they subconsciously invite people to the streets, welcoming them heartily.
Maybe that’s why people seem to walk the streets here more than anywhere else.
posted by Aaron at 11:45 PM
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