La Sagrada Familia Antoni Gaudí’s unfinished masterpiece
Barcelona, Spain. 1882, laying of the foundation stone of the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família. Originally a project of architect Francisco de Paula del Villar, Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí took over from him in 1883 and devoted a huge part of his life to it.
What is it?
La Sagrada Familia is an “expiatory church” meaning it is funded entirely by donations – including those from its yearly visitors. When Antoni Gaudí died in 1926, his legacy was continued by a series of architects working on a set of intricate large-scale plaster models he constructed. The aim of these models was to point the way forward for the construction of this building.
Unfortunately, these models were smashed to pieces 10 years later during the Spanish Civil War by a group of anarchists who bombarded the building. This made it very difficult for his successors to continue construction - even though they attempted to, construction progressed slowly. Now with modern technology, new life has been breathed into their efforts.
[To understand how Gaudi planned its construction, go to this link Geometry.]
The Technology
3-D printing. Surprised? In use since 2001, it accelerated the construction process by speeding up the prototyping of the building's many complex components. Since Gaudi’s designs focused on geometric forms, surviving smashed pieces of his models were ‘easily’ digitized using 3-D scanners. According to Peter Sealy, who was a PhD candidate at Harvard University Graduate School of Design when he made this remark:
“Gaudi's design intentions can be reverse-engineered from these computer models, which can then be used for design development (the working tradition of Gaudi's atelier continues, now with the 3-D printing of plaster models) and fabrication, with stone cut robotically and concrete poured into moulds made from 1:1 scale 3-D prints.”
New Zealander Mark Burry, consulting architect to the Sagrada Familia since 1989, and his Melbourne- and Barcelona-based team, worked on these processes of digitization to unlock Gaudi's methodologies.
Progress (so far)
Everything looks on-course to completion by 2026. Timeline as below:
Watch
1. 2016 Levantamos las torres centrales | Raising the central towers [2:20]
2. Sagrada Família and RMIT University [4:42]
3. Animation shows completion of Antoni Gaudí's Sagrada Família [1:11]
Expected date of completion: 2026
[Centennial of Gaudi’s death. Total of 144 years for its completion]
WILL IT BE COMPLETED AS ENVISIONED BY GAUDI?
Shared by Azni Zainal Abidin
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