One can glide through the streets of Seville with ease and simplicity. Each threshold and turn frames urbanity like a symphony; a beautiful composition of stone streets, architectural styles and exquisite treats.
Metropol Parasol, the world’s largest timber structure, was not on my Seville list. I was forced to stop and witness the immense structure that appeared before me; on first impression, abrupt and somewhat rude. Like a love letter it unknowingly, without warning slipped into view. I was left to decode the message and find meaning.
I could not keep my eyes off the object. The relationship between human and object bordering obsession. I quickly found myself elevating and coming closer to the structure via staircase and plinth. Looking upwards, a complex orthogonal grid of timber members overlaid a familiar blue blanket. Could I measure the sky?
To our understanding, the sky has no limit; triggering a sense of wonder. The Metropol Parasol defines a vertical limit, breaking our initial understanding and replacing interstellar wonder with architectural form, and so I begun to feel seduced by its many identities: The Metropol Parasol is shade, sky, stage and monument.
Upon further interaction, I found a museum and observation tower. A flight of stairs took me underneath the structure to a dark, contained space. Within was a large collection of roman ruins that were found during construction. Typical of most tourist sites, I was subconsciously drawn toward a queue of people.
They were lining up for escalators! Up I went. Once the escalator doors retreated and I stepped out, the timber structure was all around me, with
roller coaster-like pedestrian paths that weaved in, out and around the structure, meandering, poking and exposing. The playfulness of the experience awakes your inner child, and forces you to run and interact. I had not experienced anything like this in response to built structure. Even now, writing this piece my heart feels overwhelmed by its movement and flow. And then somewhere along the way you stop to watch the city, as it attempts to reach the horizon.
I first considered Metropol Parasol abrupt and somewhat rude but, given the opportunity to express itself I soon realised that
Metropol Parasol does not compete with Seville’s beauty; it further expresses it.
I’m overjoyed that my day changed so abruptly.
Posted by Jez Baron