Gaudi
Gaudí Unseen - Completing La Sagrada Familia
Antoni Gaudí took over work on Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia cathedral in 1882 and continued working on it until he died in 1926. The cathedral, still uncompleted, is his biggest and best-known building, ranking today as a symbol of Barcelona.
Gaudí has been called the foremost exponent of fantastic architecture, and his vocabulary is indeed idiosyncratic, using elements and ornaments inspired by Nature’s own geometry. Every year the unfinished Gesamtkunstwerk attracts some 2 million visitors. This hundred-year-old architectural drama, the construction project which has been in progress for more than a century, continues today with the same intensity as in the 1920s. It is expected that the first services inside the cathedral can be held in the nave in 2010.
The team of architects working to complete Sagrada Familia have encountered a host of difficult design problems. New Zealand architect Mark Burry, who initiated this exhibition, has been involved in the project since 1979. In the 1980s he prevailed on the principal architect, Jordi Bonet, to try using computer support as a means of understanding and adding to the structure. Their collaboration was a success and continued. Bury soon found that ordinary architectural CAD programs wereinadequate, and instead the problem was overcome using aerodynamics software. This equipment has also contributed towards a better understanding of Gaudí’s design process.
The exhibition also describes other important aspects of Gaudí’s works, such as his use of geometry, and how he was influenced by the civilisation of the Mayan Indians as well as by Nature’s own geometry.