JANE SEABROOK* I like to think a bunch of my preservatives encompass ethos, logos and pathos. Ethos refers to persuasion based on the credibility or authority of the speaker/writer, Pathos referring to persuasion based on emotion, and Logos referring to persuasion based on logic or reason.
Because I did, and still do love research, I am returning to some of my favorite researched Designer Giants. They used all the preservatives they could find and even invented some. This is a chance to connect the dots and be enriched by the ethos, logos and pathos of architects Antonio Gaudi and James Hubbell and their preservatives.
Way back, I wrote a design article regarding two ingenious architects. One living, one not. One on a distant shore, one down the road. Many of their design conceptions and philosophies invited comparisons between their masterful inspirations.
We were spending a month in Spain and I had all my preservatives…two washable wigs needed for one bald head from chemo, bags of prescriptions, my favorite hat, (still have it, wear it, terribly battered) and all the other travel paraphernalia.
During our week in Barcelona we encountered timeless Catalonian symbols——cuisine, late night revelry in the land of the Matadors, the distinctive Sardana dance and the architecture of Antonio Gaudi.
If you were to excavate a time capsule, you would find in the architectural characteristics of Gaudi—— Moorish, Neo-Gothic, Art Nouveau and Gothic influences. Parabolic arches soar and float while miniature towers become minarets on mosques that confront tile patterns devoted to flights of fancy. And that is only the tip of the iceberg in his imagination.
The St. Louis, Arch is a Parabolic Arch
The biographer Rainer Zerbst commented, “Gaudi’s life was full of contradictions. As a young man, he joined the Catalonian nationalist movement and was highly critical of the church; then, at the end of his life, he devoted himself solely to the construction of a single church. Again as a young man, Gaudi liked the glamour of an active social life and had an unmistakable penchant for being a dandy. Yet in old age, ‘he lived a spartan life’.”
The city and culture of 1877 Barcelona was flourishing when Antonio completed his architectural studies. Trade, cotton and iron produced upper classes where the rich liked to surround themselves with artists and writers who often lived under the roof of their patrons.
Senor Guell became the patron of Gaudi and allowed him free rein to fulfill their joint dreams. Guell was a successful brick manufacturer who was not only acclaimed for his wealth, but for his ardor for social reform. He was interested in the growth of industrial cities and engaged Gaudi to design and construct a garden for a residential settlement.——”Parque Guell”.
A visit to Parque Guell shows a wondrous array of “architecture and urbanism dedicated to his fundamental source of inspiration: nature!” A cement serpentine bench covered with colorful broken glazed ceramics enclosed a perimeter of some fifty acres. There was no grading or leveling of hills in the park. Instead Gaudi created cavelike passageways, (arcades) that became a forest of pillars. The administration buildings were topped by fantastical roofs. The recreation area is an art filled oasis of shapes of gigantic proportions denoting what a gifted sculptor was Gaudi. And yet, the park was almost completely built of material found on the actual site.
At one point in 1908 a New York multimillionaire became infatuated with his work and asked for ideas to build and design a New York hotel. Gaudi sketched a building similar in height to the Eiffel Tower with a central tower crowned with a powerful beacon in the shape of a star. Parabolic arches spanned two floors resulting in an auditorium for several thousand spectators. It was never built. Gaudi’s new architecture was not to be in the New World.
But there is architecture in our corner of the world that is equally rich in symbolism. There are sculptural figures accented with illusionary and realistic animals. There are cement plants that blossom… Architecture that is capricious and audacious and fluid.
It is the work of James Hubbell, artist, craftsman, poet, stained glass designer and architect. During a lecture by Mr. Hubbell, he spoke of his inspirations, “the sky on a moonless night, or seeing the wind wave over a field of grass, or noticing the dust at play in a shaft of light, or felt the warmth of another’s hand….someone you cared for. This is where architecture must come from”.
During an interview, I asked James Hubbell if he had personally seen the work of Gaudi and if he felt any of his work reflected parallel forms and textures. He replied he had seen Gaudi’s architecture and the way in which he had been “personally been influenced by the work of Gaudi was in the sense that you could treat architecture like sculpture” And he felt that for both Gaudi and he nature was, and is the primary inspiration.
Two artists that transformed traditional design——the 19th century Gaudi and the 20/21st century Hubbell allow us to participate in adventurous and creative architecture. Both worked in stone as well as iron to create surfaces that flow. These surfaces contain great complexity with intricate mosaics. There is a wide range of artful structures as well as decorative innovation.
And lucky us, because if you’re not packing your suitcase for Barcelona, head on up to Santa Isabel. It’s worth a visit to view James Hubbell’s fantastical organic-architectural house and adjacent studios located in the mountain community of Santa Ysabela, near Julian, CA, 60 miles east of San Diego.
James Hubbell Home
Temple of the Segrada Familia
The ethos, logos and pathos embody the “PRESERVATIVES” of two groundbreaking and visionary architectural humanitarians and the living monuments they created.
Sy’s Salient Points: James and Ann Hubbell have recently moved to a CCRC Continuing Care Retirement Community near Mexico. James Hubbell, when speaking to Marianne Gerdes, executive director of the Ilan-Lael Foundation established by James and his wife Ann: “explained to her that he looks at the challenges in his life these days as opportunities to see things from a fresh perspective.” James Hubbell has Parkinson’s Disease.
Antonio Gaudi began work on the Segrada Familia in 1883 and devoted more than 40 years of his life to the Temple of the Sagrada Família. He became increasingly pious and after 1910 he abandoned virtually all other work eventually secluding himself on its site and residing in its workshop. He was struck by a trolley at age 74 while still working on the Temple and died a few days later. On 7 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI consecrated the Temple and granted it the status of a Minor Basilica. It is slated to be completed in 2026, 143 years after its inception.
*Jane Seabrook: A New Zealand illustrator and designer known for her exquisitely detailed watercolor paintings depicting animals caught up in the joy and drudgery of life sharing her rich sense of humor.
Congratulations Editor Blaire on winning 1st Place by the AZ Interscholastic Press Association with 34 total awards. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARLING BLAIRE & HAPPY THANKSGIVING