Play hard learn harder: The Serious Business of Play
Antoni Gaudi
1. “An Architect is someone who can see the nature of things before it could exist,
someone who can know how to put things in order and arrange things in form
3 dimensional, but with feelings.”
- ANTONIO GAUDI
2. • Antoni Placid Guillem Comet was an Spanish architect born in Reus (Baix Camp,
Catalonia)
• After leaving the school, he went to Barcelona.
• He graduated as architect in 1878.
• Almost his entire professional activity took place in Barcelona.
• Spanish architect whose idiosyncratic work, characterized by undulating curves and richly colored scrambled
textures, won wide international recognition only after the mid-20th century.
• He developed his unique style—blending element`s of Gothic art, art nouveau, known as modernismo in Catalonia,
and functional structure.
• His favorite forms were inclined columns to add stress to ceilings, paraboloid arches, thin edge-butted tile
vaults, and the richest, most colorful textures possible, often mosaics made of broken tile scraps.
• He didn't draw his buildings, but made 3D models/sculptures.
• His nickname was 'God's Architect' due to the religious images in his work.
ABOUT AN ARCHITECT
3. • He created a type of structure known as EQUILIBRATED i.e., it could stand on its own without internal
bracing, external buttressing, etc.
• The primary functional elements of this system were columns that tilted to employ diagonal thrusts
and lightweight tile vaults.
• Notably, Gaudi used his equilibrated system to construct two Barcelona apartment buildings: the casa
ballot (1904–06) and the casa milà (1905–10), whose floors were structured like clusters of tile lily
pads. Both projects are considered to be characteristic of Gaudi's style.
Casa Batllo Casa Mila
Park Güell Casa de los Botines Church of Colonia Güell Episcopal Palace of Astorga
Güell Palace
4. • Location – Barcelona, Spain
• Work started- 19th March, 1882
• Expected to complete by 2026
• Antoni Gaudi appointed architect in 1883 and
worked on this project until his death in 1926.
LA SAGRADA
FAMILIA
6. Plan of the Church
• Sagrada Familia is a church with a central nave flanked by
four aisles, and transepts with a central nave flanked by two
aisles, forming a Latin cross. The top of the cross is closed by
the semi- circular apse.
• The interior measurements are: nave and apse, 90 m;
crossing, 60m
• Total length from the entrance to the back of the apse: 90 m
• Width of the main nave: 45 m (= 1/2 • 90 m)
• Length of the crossing 60 m: (= 2/3 • 90 m)
• Total length from the entrance to the back of the apse: 90 m
• Height of the main nave: 45 m (= 1/2 • 90 m)
• Height of the crossing: 60 m (= 2/3 • 90 m)
7. Main parts of the church
• Apse
• Crossing
• Passion façade
• The nativity façade
• Glory façade
• Cloister
• Main nave
• Crypt
Gaudi's original design calls for a total of eighteen spires, representing in ascending order of height the Twelve Apostles, the
four Evangelists, the Virgin Mary and, tallest of all, Jesus Christ.
Eight spires have been built as of 2010, corresponding to four apostles at the Nativity façade and four apostles at the Passion
façade. The completion of the spires will make Sagrada Família the tallest church building in the world.
8. • Nativity facade
(built during Gaudi’s life)
• Passion facade
(built after Gaudi’s death)
• Glory facade
(Glory façade is not built yet)
9. Nativity Façade
Dedicated to the birth of Jesus, it is decorated with scenes reminiscent of elements of life. Characteristic of Gaudí's naturalistic style, the
sculptures are ornately arranged and decorated with scenes and images from nature, each a symbol in their own manner.
Four towers complete the façade and are each dedicated to a Saint (Matthias the Apostle, Saint Barnabas, Jude the Apostle, and Simon
the Zealot).
Passion Façade
in contrast to the highly decorated Nativity Façade, the Passion Façade is plain and simple, with ample bare stone, and is carved with
harsh straight lines to resemble a skeleton if it were reduced to only bone. Dedicated to the Passion of Christ, the suffering of Jesus
during his crucifixion, the façade was intended to portray the sins of man. Construction began in 1954, following the drawings and
instructions left by Gaudí for future architects and sculptors.
Glory Façade
The largest of the façades will be the Glory Façade, To reach the Glory Portico, there will be a large staircase. It will be decorated with
demons, idols, false gods, heresy and schisms, etc. Purgatory and death will also be depicted. The portico will have seven large columns
dedicated to spiritual gifts. At the base of the columns there will be representations of the Seven Deadly Sins and at the top seven
heavenly virtues.
10. HYPERBOLOID
The hyperboloid is a surface generated by a hyperbola which
revolves around a circle or ellipse. They can be solid or empty,
solid to pass from the column to the vaults, empty where the
light enters the interior of the church.
• Double roof
• A unique feature of the church‘s roof, quadric surfaces ,
reflect and filter natural light.
ELLIPSOID
It is a solid in which all the flat sections are
ellipses. Because of its elliptical shape it
was chosen by Gaudí for the knots or
capitals that subdivide the lower columns
into branches.
The different knots are the result of adding
and subtracting ellipsoids from one another
11. Gaudi saw three great basic models of columns in history;
• The Greek Doric column
• The Corinthian order column
• The barley sugar column, typical of the Baroque
COLUMNS
Double Twisted Columns
Synthesis of 3 historical column
models. Star shaped bases ending in
circles.
The main columns of the Sagrada Familia come in four sizes
and shapes, all of which finish in a circle. The diameter and
number of sides depend on the load the column needs to bear.
12. DESIGN BY NATURE –
Ornaments
Gaudi pioneered an architecture inspired from
nature‘s forms.
HONEYCOMB GATES
patterns of honeycomb and palm fronds are
etched on the gates, walls and floors. Eg. iron
railings on the nativity facade.
VINE LINES
• Naturally spiraling helices passion fruit tendrils,
for instance, adorn the side walls of the nativity
facade.
• organic windows
• following the patterns found on natural objects
like those on a marine diatom, gaudi designed
windows to allow for greater passage of natural
light.
13. HYPERBOLIC PARABOLOID
• It is simply a twisted plane.
• in one direction it has the sections in the form of a
parabola with the branches pointing upwards, while in
the perpendicular part the sections are in the form of a
parabola with the branches pointing downwards.
Gaudi had a desire to overcome all the defects he found in the Gothic structural system,
mainly the following:
• Shifting of the loads to flying buttresses, more exposed and more vulnerable,
• Excessively complex and fragile structural web. The demolition of one part can bring about
the ruin of the whole building.
• Light wooden roofs, excessively vulnerable to fire, damp, insects
Gaudi's contributions to going beyond the Gothic can be summarized as:
• Double roof of stone
• verticalization of the forces and reduction of the horizontal thrusts. He thus achieves the total
suppression of the exterior structural elements
• Inclined columns branching like trees.
