The objective of this paper is to show the importance of the solar passive design principles in Antonio Gaudi’s Architectural Work from the analysis of one of his domestic buildings constructed in Barcelona in the turn ofthe XX century: The Batlló House. The paperutilizes a qualitative analyses that are based on accepted Architectural design strategies. The results demonstrate that Antonio Gaudi’s Architecture not only is producing an enormous aesthetic emotion but also is a relevant example of environmental conscious design. Antonio Gaudí (1852-1926), “Art Nouveau”’smost important architect in Catalonia, isworldwide known because of his creativeability, based on nature’s imitation among otherinspiration sources. The fact is evidentconsidering not only the natural motives whichshape his decorative language, but alsoregarding in the same way his environmentalsensibility appreciated in the wise use he makesof natural energies to achieve comfort in theMediterranean climate. Concerned for theappropriate orientation of his buildings, hisrefined regulation systems of solar radiation andthe exploitation of natural lighting andventilation is habitual in Gaudí’s works. Onaccount of this, in most of his projects we canperceive the importance of section not onlybecause it creates space, but also because it isthe place where all the environmental tensionsfocus; light suits space illuminating it properlyand air runs through sophisticated itinerariescooling the rooms which surround a centralarea, adopting the typology of the “casa conpatio” in the Mediterranean tradition originatedin the classical world. The façade of thebuilding turns out to be a highly developed skin that wraps the building with exuberant adornments that are permeable to breezes and measures out the solar rays in all the rooms open both to the outside and to the inside.We can find these basic principles in Gaudí’swhole works, “Palacio Güell, Casa Batlló, laPedrera, el convento de las Teresian as, el Palacio Episcopal de Astorga, la Sagrada Familia” …etc…, but it is in his domestic architecture where his interest to achieve theuser’s comfort and wellfare by means of the appropriate use of natural energies is notably shown. The “Casa Batlló” (1904-1906), locatedin the” Paseo de Gracia” in Barcelona, is a building midst party walls of modernist style,designed as a pluri familiar house. It consists of seven floors; basement, semi basement, ground floor, main floor plus balcony, four floors, attic and roof. In the Barcelona district designed bythe engineer Ilde fons Cerdà in the second half of the nineteenth century, the residential plots constitute blocks with a large inner courtyard and a building depth of 28 metres. The edification by laws provided in this urban plan require the construction of a new intermediate courtyard for ventilation and lighting of the inner rooms. The “Casa Batlló” is not built as anew building, but as a result of the.

Download Passive solar design in Antonio Gaudi’s domestic architecture.