My father-in-law’s brother is an architect. He does (or did) design doors and doorways for prisons. He saw it as a way to make money to live, but it’s not his passion.
For passion, he looks to Frank Lloyd Wright, who happens to also be my favorite architect. I think that was one of the things that endeared me to the family when I first met them. Of course, we both realize the issues with Wright. But, the architecture Wright produced is still amazing, regardless of his personality faults.
I love Gaudi, too. I saw Sagrada Família years ago, when my wife and I took a vacation to Barcelona. I’d love to go back and see it again. But, looking at his house which was turned into a museum, you start to understand why the word “gaudy” was invented.
I’m also a big fan of Victor Horta. My wife and I lived in Brussels from late 1998 to early 2006, and we were only a few blocks away from his house, which they had turned into a museum. He did some of the most beautiful stuff I’ve ever seen. But it was also very difficult to create at the time, and difficult to maintain. Only the richest people could afford that. We are fortunate that we were able to collect a couple of Art Nouveau antiques while we were there. But almost no one here in the US would recognize them, and I doubt many here would consider them beautiful.
Sadly, for production purposes in this modern world, ornamentation must be set aside. Throw all the ugly ass cheap tchotchkes in there that you want, and get your ornamentation and decoration fix however you have to. What you throw that onto or into, it’s almost certainly going to be as bland as humanly possible.