I was born in Barcelona and moved to London after university. I’ve been living in England for 30 years, but I still consider Barcelona to be home and try to visit every month. It has two different sides – the one that the world sees, which is very cosmopolitan and lively; and the other that’s inhabited by the old Catalan families, which is quite conservative and traditional. My Barcelona life was sheltered while I was growing up, largely concentrated within 1sq km. I spent my days shuttling between my family’s apartment in the bourgeois neighbourhood of Sant Gervasi and my Jesuit school.
I first noticed Antoni Gaudí’s work on my way to school. Every day, I passed a gate known as Portal Miralles. Even as a child I was drawn to the sinuous archway, topped with a crucifix, which is covered in trencadís (broken, irregular stone – a precursor to Gaudí’s trademark use of tile and ceramic fragments). It was created at the turn of the century and marks the entrance to a modernist housing estate designed by late-20th-century architect José Antonio Coderch (one of my favourite architects in Barcelona). It always felt so magical.
Alvaro Picardo at Casa Vicens, the first house Gaudí designed in the city © Anna Huix
