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M a h d i a r G h a f f a r i a n H o s e i n iC a s e S t u d y A s s i g n m e n tI n t r o D e s i g n T h e o r i e s - F a l l 2 0 1 1

T h e C a s a B a t l l l o

(1904-1906)A n t o n i G a u d iC a s e S t u d y - F o r m A s s i g n m e n t

M a h d i a r G h a f f a r i a n H o s e i n iI n t r o t o D e s i g n T h e o r i e s - F a l l 2 0 1 1


The Casa Batlllo (1904-1906)A n t o n i G a u d i

IntroductionCasa Batlló, is a six-story townhouse in the very heart

of Passeig de Gràcia, which is very much Barcelona’s Park Avenue. It is a universe of symbolism, a canvas of marine inspiration, a dream world, which evokes nature with its organic elements and is suggestive of fantasy.

History and NeighborhoodCassa Batllo was a new design built on a former

structure of a residence for a wealthy family that wanted to compete in having a predominant mansion. While neighboring other famous buildings designed by famous architects of the time. Casa Batllo was the last of the escalating architectural works that created a utopia of modernism. Each casa was built in attempt to upstage the neighbors.

“Casa Batlló is beautiful. And it fits right into the neighborhood. Only a genius could have pulled this off.” (P. J. O’Rourke – Atlantic Magazine)


Exterior vision“The breathtaking exterior begins with the

massive sandstone columns sampling from such natural forms as bones or flowers stems. The first three floors were where Gaudi concentrated most of his expensive materials, particularly the elaborately carved sandstone. The first two floors extend farther to the street than the others. Thus, this creates a leaning effect that is only accentuated the façade’s ceaseless undulations. Casa Batllo features no edges or right angles.; Gaudi had the old brick chipped away and replaced with a mosaic skin of lime, mortar, and broken pieces of tile and glass. This is a technique often used by Gaudi” (Ben Glick – Modernism and Architecture)

Different aspects of the façade are resembles of natural objects and natural forms, such as bones (columns), masks (balconies), dragon, reptilian creature, ocean (roof), flower stems and so on

It should be noted that the roof does a superb job of capping the near formless façade by producing horizontally undulating lines that effectively run perpendicular to the other waves. This provides the necessary contrast to the free form façade; thus, giving it shape, as a beach or harbor gives shape and form to the sea.


way . Shapes t ha t a re s imu l taneous ly fami l ia r and s t range . L i ke t he de l i ca te sands tone co lumns o f t he facade wh ich evoke bo th human t i b ias and de l i ca te f l owers . Na tu ra l f o rms a re abs t rac ted so t ha t t hey c rea te a fundamenta l amb igu i t y resu l t i ng a d reaml i ke qua l i t y f o r t he house . T rad i t i ona l h i s to r i c e lemen ts such as tu r re t , d ragon l i ke roo f , s ta ined g lass w indow add up to l eve l o f f an tasy in a rch i tec tu re . Names l i ke house o f bones o r house o f yawn a re p roduc ts o f us ing na tu ra l symbo ls and bu i l d ing an o rgan ic a rch i tec tu re .

Natu re and Na tu ra l Fo rmsGaud i sa id , “Eve ry th ing t ha t any

a rch i tec t cou ld need… I s a l ready in na tu ra l f o rms in na tu re . ” Th i s i s su re ly t he sou rce he re fe renced when des ign ing Casa Ba t l l o . He a lso sa id “Those who look fo r t he Laws o f Na tu re as a suppor t f o r t he i r new works co l labo ra te w i t h t he c rea to r . ” A l so he be l i eves t ha t he had a lways t he i nsp i ra t ion , and na tu re showed h im God ’ s eng inee r ing .

A l l bu i l d ing i s a me tapho r o f na tu re o r t he samp l ing o f na tu ra l f o rms . The bu i l d ing i s composed o f fami l ia r na tu ra l f o rms , a r ranged in a comp le te ly new and su r rea l


Interior and Exterior life“All of Gaudi’s works, however outwardly unruly,

proceed from internal discipline.“Casa Batllo instills visitors with a surreal feeling.

“The interior mirrors the exterior”. As we saw on exterior there are curves and smooth angles in each and every corner. The space is organic, wide, open and expansive. There are lots of dreamlike fantasy features like curves, colors, windows and stained glass windows. The interior is full of details and materiality even more designed that the exterior and the interior space is just “as alive as it appears from the street”.

People say it’s the façade that catches your attention but the interior captures your imagination.

Flowing ArchitectureThe hall streams, the stairs surge, there are no edges, no

corners, walls glide into ceilings, rooms flow into rooms, it is a peristalsis house. But light, cheer, air, and comfortable proportions are everyplace. The design is meant fully for people, they are in good spirits, as the spirit of the house demands.

The view of the building is changing and flowing as the sun hits the front of the building during the day, the facade magically materializes and dematerializes in a celebration of color. Depending on the weather and lighting Casa Batllo may change colors and apply an entirely different impression to the viewer. One critic describes the building façade as, having the same effect as a throwing a stone into a pool of water lilies.


Symbolism and Story TellingThe façade and the spirit of the whole building, all of

the curves, symbolic forms and objects, natural forms, colors, glows and textures imply a feeling of fairytales and phantasmal dreams.

Gaudi always intends religious imagery in his works which is usually subliminal, there are religious images and texts all over the building especially on the upper parts of the façade which are to some extend not very obvious.

There is a giant appealing cross on the roof which is assumed to have different messages as the whole building does.

The cross is Gaudi’s signature, a four-pointed transverse cross. “Gill suggests that the goal was to point out that “religion can embrace humour, fantasy and the absurd.” It can also be interpreted as a message to God that he was building in His name, instead of for fame or glorification of wealth.”

“The cross is said to be the handle of St. George’s sword. This would make the turret the shaft of the blade. The roof is representative of the hard skin of a dragon’s back, and the façade is its soft underbelly. The sandstone columns are the bones of the dragon’s victims, so are the balconies, which are skulls. Thus, the entire façade is symbolic of St. George, the patron saint of Catalunya.” In modern art symbolism was a major part as it was always apparent in Gaudi’s works.


TypeWhat Gaudi has done in his project is a type

of in-between when the gothic is transferring to modernism and this type is neither a gothic architecture nor a modern one. As a result of using Islamic, gothic and baroque forms for years an abstract form of nature in an organic language was emerged in this building.

As Gaudi believes that a house of god should stand on its own he considered gothic imperfect because it was based on supports by elements

which were not primary parts of the building. And the solution for Gaudi was nature where natural forms of plants and animals where self stable, both formal and functional. By this the gothic architecture was developed and the light was added to the space.

Gaudi’s style encompasses all that defines the Art Nouveau, a School of French decorative artists from the 1890s who took influence from sinuous shapes in plants and nature. He explored his interests in flowing shapes, patterns and colors in the Casa Batlló.


Casa Batllo is a bridge from gothic and traditional archi-tecture to modernism and this building is considered as a premier modernist building. Gaudi tends to use new materials and techniques and new technical solutions and many natural forms and symbolism. However, the truly impressive thing about Casa Batllo is not the pres-ence of these individual elements, but the unequivocal unity with which they were assembled

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