Building to intimidate.

When I was in Barcelona recently I did what all visitors to the capital and largest city of Catalonia do, I visited a number of the works of Gaudi including the Basílica i Temple Expiatoride la Sagrada Família to give it its Sunday title.  

Seeing it was simply a joy.  Breathtaking.  It is big.  Yes, but it doesn’t make you feel small.  Quite the reverse, you almost feel part of the building.  The natural light, the shapes, the astonishing ability of Gaudi to make you feel at home.   

I contrast and compare that with a picture I saw on the news last night of the home of the European Court of Justice in Luxemburg. I’ve never seen a picture of it before, in spite of having referred to it on many an occasion.  It too is big.  But in a different way.  Its scale seems to deliberately be set to make you feel small, subservient, and even afraid.  Even the judges clad in their red robes looked positively insignificant in this vast chamber.  It makes you feel small and intimidated.    

Perhaps that is its purpose, unlike Gaudi’s la Sagrada Família which makes you feel alive and part of something.