Sociedad Estatal para la Acción Cultural Exterior

Gaudí. Exploring form
Space, geometry, structure and construction

Saló del Tinell, City History Museum. Barcelona
20.3.2002 - 29.9.2002

 

 

 

Introduction of the Exhibition curator

It is likely that in the continuing evolution of modern architecture, recent Gaudinian experiments will acquire a greater value and will be fully appreciated. When that time comes, mankind will recognise the greatness of his role as a pioneer and as a precursor.(1)

Josep-Lluís Sert (1955)

The seed idea for this exhibition dates back to 1967, when I had the privilege to meet and to talk for a considerable length of time with Cèsar Martinell at the presentation of the book Gaudí: su vida, su teoría, su obra (2) at the central offices of the Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya. Martinell was one of Gaudí's closest disciples and to my mind one of the architect's greatest interpreters, and it was at this event that I discovered the importance of the geometrical and structural components of Gaudí's work. Used as we are to discoursing on Gaudinian morphology and its explicit plastic qualities, to hear talk of Gaudí's "spirit of synthesis" was surprising, to say the least. Martinell gesticulated with his hands and with the aid of pencils and sketches that he drew as he went along made us understand in a simple fashion the highly complex solutions that give shape to Gaudí's architecture. Using a technical language, but without the need for convoluted algebraic formulae, he referred to geometrical figures such as the hyperbolic paraboloid, the helicoid and the hyperboloid, and made his audience focus on the visual representation of each of these forms in such a way that this geometry of space was comprehensible to all. With this initiation, we went on to read Martinell's book, which proved a definitive influence by opening up a wide horizon and by revealing a tremendous interest in learning about Gaudí in depth, both in terms of the more external aspect of his work, as well as the raison d'être for everything that supports and structures it. Years later, in other book by Martinell, Gaudí i la Sagrada Família comentada per ell mateix (3) , I came across the article "Ensenyament de la geometria per la visió"(4) (An Education into Geometry through Sight), in which the author recalled how Gaudí would explain all the projections of the hyperbolic paraboloid by playing with battens and coloured cords, with which he would build a tool that would project the shadows of this figure when placed in a specific way in the path of a sunbeam. When he arrived at this point, Martinell asked, paraphrasing Gaudí, "Wouldn't a great Geometry described in this way be beautiful?"(5), whilst remarking that this method of making things at the same time as they can be seen means that they are never forgotten. "It is the best demonstration: a person who has seen something says 'It is true, I have seen it for myself.' When something has been demonstrated, it is said that 'it is evident'. The 'evidence' is to the eyes of the spirit what 'sight' is to the eyes of the body,"(6) a theory that is very close to that formulated years later by Rudolf Arnheim, (7) who declared that everything that is perceived visually is thought, that reasonings are intuition and that observation is invention. It should be said that later experiences and studies helped me in this process of visualising Gaudí's work and stimulated in me a desire to learn about its genesis, the methods he used and the results he achieved. In this respect, I would particularly like to mention the books by Joan Bergós (8) and Isidre Puig Boada,(9) the later essays by Joan Bassegoda (10) and above all the miscellany Gaudí, rationalist met perfecte mateeriaalbeheersing,(11) by the Gaudí-groep Delft, published by the University of Delft in 1989, and the report Gaudí. Das Model,(12) published by the University of Stuttgart (1980), and la Sagrada Família. De Gaudí al CAD,(13) published by the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (1996). However precise or apt the description, the inner Gaudinian world would be difficult to understand without these and other contributions, such as the book L'últim Gaudi (14) by Jordi Bonet, which details the tradition of Gaudí's workshop and the pre-existing documentation, while revealing the geometrical and constructional laws governing the design of Sagrada Família.

These articles and books, from the oldest to the most recent, which use the resources offered by the new technologies, demonstrate that visual means, especially those that tend towards synthesis, be they drawings, perspectives or models, are key to grasping the essence of Gaudí's work.

The geometry of space, which is so easy to comprehend visually yet so difficult to explain in words, fascinated Gaudí from his youth and he gradually became more obsessed with it during the course of his life. Indeed, it is to be found in each and every one of his buildings, although the most emblematic examples of his creative use of it are the church at the Colònia Güell industrial settlement and in the design for Sagrada Família.

In general, and clearly there are exceptions, conventional architecture is realised based on a geometry which, though it may employ simple forms (such as triangles, squares, circles in a plane, prisms, cubes, pyramids, cylinders, spheres, etc.) in space, is the result of the rigorous application of the ruler and compass. Consequently, when Gaudí discovered -evidently he did not invent them- the so-called ruled surfaces, composed of straight lines, which determine curved surfaces in space, such as paraboloids, hyperboloids and helicoids, and others deriving from them, he found a field of exploration that so fascinated him that he devoted the last years of his life to it. The fact is that ruled surfaces, which are, moreover, easy to resolve in construction, enabled him to expand the repertoire of forms that he used and to achieve solutions in walls, vaults and roofs that had never been seen before.

There were two paths that led Gaudí to work with the geometry of ruled space: one was the analysis that he had begun in his childhood of natural forms (tree trunks, bones, crustaceans, etc.); and the other was his mastery of the geometry of space and his need to experiment with three dimensions.

It is true that Gaudí took his inspiration from organic forms, natural models and above all from the spirit of synthesis that Martinell alludes to. Nevertheless, behind the more symbolic elements of his work there is a structural support, a functional consideration, an economy of form based on his experience and observation. His famous remark "To be original is to get closer to the origins" (15) should not be interpreted as a simple return to or imitation of the forms and structures found in nature (geology, mineralogy, botany or anatomy), which, as commented earlier, exercised an enormous influence in his work, but as a reference to the path that places the emphasis on the "inventive process as such" (16) and "does not repeat a commonplace",(17) as Roberto Pane points out, or as, in Alexandre Cirici's words, "research into the problematics at their very source".(18)

This return to the origins may also have been related to Gaudí's recognition of the world of traditional crafts and trades, in which he had been trained and which undoubtedly influenced him. Combining visuality and manual skills appealed to the architect and as a result he soon inclined towards three-dimensional experimentation, towards small and large-scale models, real or photographed elements that he manipulated until he achieved formal alternatives that could easily be visualised, as can be seen in the studies of the church at Colònia Güell. Gaudí's world was one of tests, trials, errors and corrections that enabled him to get as close as possible to the solutions to problems. In this he went against the flow of construction techniques up until that time: Gaudí did not go from calculation and theory to the realisation of the project, but from the model to calculation, and from thence to the drawing and the construction. We can see, therefore, that Gaudí reached these conclusions via experimentation, by continuously going back over a route already taken and discovering properties or finding solutions as he went along. It may be because of this that he dared to declare: "My structural and aesthetic ideas have an indisputable logic."

Gaudí's way of understanding science and technology was similar to Leonardo da Vinci's, who put everything to the test. Both arrived at theory through observation and analysis, and in such a process drawings, models, trials, etc. are essential. As a result, both Leonardo and Gaudí were able to go beyond the surface and to discover the internal forces of bodies. Notwithstanding this, Gaudí's is not a geometry like the one Leonardo called De ludo geometrico,(19) which makes it possible to play with forms and proportions. Quite the reverse. Gaudí's geometry is aimed at facilitating construction processes, at making the most of traditional formulae and at ensuring the stability of buildings. Gaudí's is a geometry that is the result of the personal discoveries made after continual research. Gaudí saw forms and once he had determined them mentally, he sought the means to transform them into physical, buildable objects. For this selfsame reason, his study bore no resemblance to that of a conventional architect, but was instead similar to a workshop, where he could work with a wide variety of resources, elements and materials, such as drawing, photography, small and large-scale models, electrical spotlights, mirrors, moulds, ceramic, glass, metal, etc. All things were permitted and possible in this space, which was somewhere between the studio of a romantic artist and the modern testing laboratories of today.

According to Gaudí, "for an architectural work to be beautiful, all its elements must be appropriate in situation, dimension, form and colour", because all these qualities of the architectural work are closely related. Beauty in the Platonic sense is synonymous with goodness, genuineness and validity, and this is Gaudí's sense of that which is beautiful, ethical and aesthetic. His forms have a tremendous aesthetic quality, in addition to their functional excellence. In his work, form and function identify with each other and meld into one. It may be because of this that scholars on Gaudí commonly go back to his origins and place him in the world of the crafts, trades or even sculpture. Pevsner himself, in an early period, considered Gaudí to be "essentially an artisan" (20)and other critics have limited themselves to speaking of his prolific and varied world of forms and of his marked expressionist character. It is evident that Gaudí was extremely knowledgeable in craft techniques, which he learnt, as mentioned earlier, in the family business and in the workshops of the finest craftspeople of the period (smiths, glassmakers, carpenters, etc.), but this aspect should not lead us to ignore the high standards of scientific and technical training that he reached. Gaudí was essentially an architect, an architect who was well aware of what the crafts could offer and who was capable of using all the flat and spatial geometrical shapes; a construction enthusiast who had studied at the newly-created school of architecture that taught construction studies, which had until then been taught at the school for master builders, to the highest university standards.

Over the years, there has been no shortage of scholars who have -perhaps from a highly specialised theoretical level- explained and interpreted Gaudinian geometry and construction in detail. Mention should be made here of important works including those by Joan Rubió,(21) Domènec Sugrañes (22) and Francesc Folguera,(23) and later contributions such as those by George R. Collins,(24) Salvador Tarragó, (25) Joan Bassegoda i Nonell (26) and Carlos Fernández Casado,(27) all of which are unquestionably of interest and which, I would go so far as to say, have become the basis or the starting point of the research being conducted today with the help of computers, which have, moreover, made a considerable contribution towards our understanding of Gaudinian geometry.

The critiques and studies on Gaudí have thus far deemed the more scientific side of his work as being of lesser or of secondary importance. In many cases, the writers choose to indulge in speculation on his life, ideas and his plastic creation, and leave the conceptual background to one side. However, an architect who made such forthright statements as "I am a geometrician, which is to say, synthetic", "I calculate everything", "Geometry in the execution of surfaces does not complicate but rather simplifies construction" and "for an architectural work to be beautiful, all its elements must be appropriate in situation, dimension, form and colour" demands that we consider his work in greater depth. We need to look, therefore, behind Gaudí's austere forms or ostentatious ornamentation for the geometry that articulates them, because it is this that will enable us to reveal that theory and practice, and art and technique, are present in his work, in the same way that form and structure come together in it because Gaudí opted to do without all those elements in architectural tradition that did not serve a useful function.

When in 1999 we began to prepare the programme for International Gaudí Year, it was clear to us for all these reasons that we needed to include an exhibition and a publication that focussed on this aspect of Gaudí's oeuvre. To this end, we asked a group of experts on this issue to collaborate with us and help us explain conceptually and visually the close relationship in Gaudí's work between space and geometry, between geometry and the structures, and between the structures and the construction. This exhibition and catalogue are the fruit of their contributions.

The purpose of this exhibition, therefore, is to analyse Gaudí's handling of space and to explain his geometrical, structural and constructional solutions. Though the exhibition is addressed apparently at specialists, it does also aim to raise awareness amongst those who are less expert, initiating them into the paradigmatic forms in the Gaudinian repertoire in an easily-understood manner through the use of graphic drawings or info-graphic works such as photos, maquettes or 3D models. We want visitors to understand that Gaudí constructed complex forms in a practical and logical way, and in this we have been considerably aided by multimedia, which enables us to display geometrical forms and link them with the work built by Gaudí.

We must bear in mind that Gaudí's geometry and his approaches to construction are hidden behind an outer sheath of exuberant decoration, forms charged with energy, textural richness and colour which are in all likelihood those that have contributed most to his popularity and universality. The time has come, nevertheless, for us to balance form and substance, art and technique, simplicity and complexity in Gaudí's work. As a result, this exhibition has been entitled "Gaudí. Exploring form", because it takes as its starting point Gaudí's most important research, intuition, assays and trials in order to reveal the scientific and technical side of his work.

Daniel Giralt-Miracle

Exhibition curator - General Curator for International Gaudí Year

 

 

1.PUJOLS, Francesc «La visió artística i religiosa d'en Gaudí». in:DESCHARNES, Robert and PRÉVOST, Clovis: La visió artística i religiosa de Gaudí. Prologue by Salvador Dalí. Introduction by Joan Alavedra. Barcelona: Aymà, 1969, p. 11. [Article in Catalan.]
2.MARTINELL I BRUNET,Cèsar. Gaudí: su vida, su teoría, su obra. Barcelona: Comissió de Cultura of the Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya i Balears, 1967 (Biografías; núm. 1). [In Spanish.]
3.MARTINELL I BRUNET,Cèsar. Gaudí i la Sagrada Família comentada per ell mateix. 2nd edn. Valls: Cossetània, 1999. [In Catalan.]
4.Ibídem, p. 35.
5.Ibídem.
6.Ibídem.
7.ARNHEIM, Rudolf. El pensamiento visual. Barcelona: Paidós, 1986; Arte y percepción visual. Psicología del ojo creador. Madrid: Alianza Editorial, 1999. [Both in Spanish.]
8.BERGÓS,Joan. Gaudí: l'home i l'obra. Barcelona: Ariel, 1954. [In Catalan]; Tabicados huecos: bases para las dimensiones de las bóvedas y cubiertas del Templo Expiatorio de la Sagrada Familia. Barcelona: Col·legi Oficial d'Arquitectes de Catalunya i Balears, 1965. [In Spanish.]
9.PUIG BOADA,Isidre. El templo de la Sagrada Familia. Síntesis del arte de Gaudí. Barcelona: Omega, 1952. [In Spanish.]; L'església de la Colònia Güell. Photographs by Armand Aribau. Barcelona: Lumen, 1976. [Edn. in Catalan, Spanish and English.]
10.BASSEGODA I NONELL, Joan. Aproximación a Gaudí. Madrid: Càtedra Gaudí - Ediciones Doce Calles, 1992, p. 39-57. [iIn Spanish.]; «Geometría reglada y arquitectura», in: Memorias de la Real Academia de Ciencias y Artes de Barcelona, third period, núm. 868, vol. XLVIII, núm. 10 (March 1989). [In Spanish.]
11.GAUDÍ-GROEP DELFT (BAK,Peter; HEIDE, Roel van der;MOLEMA, Jan and TOMLOW, Jos) Gaudí, rationalist met perfecte materiaalbeheersing. Delft : Delftse Universitarie Press, 1979. [In Dutch with translation into Spanish]
12.TOMLOW, Jos; GRAEFE, Rainer; OTTO, Frei and SZEEMANN, Harald. Das Modell... = The Model... = El Modelo: el modelo colgante de Antoni Gaudí y su reconstrucción, nuevos conocimientos para el diseño de la iglesia de la colonia Güell. Preface by Rainer Graefe and Frei Otto. Contribution by Harald Szeemann. Stuttgart: Institut für Leichte Flächentragwerke, 1989. [Edition in German, English and Spanish.]
13.GÖMEZ, Josep; COLL, Jordi; MELERO, Juan C. and BURRY, Mark C.. La Sagrada Família: de Gaudí al CAD. Barcelona: Edicions UPC, 1996 (Art, Disseny, Arquitectura i Urbanisme; núm. 3). [In Catalan.]
14.BONET, Jordi. L'últim Gaudí. 1st edn. Barcelona: Pòrtic, 2000. [In Catalan.] (Eng. translation The Essencial Gaudí by BURRY, Mark.)
15.All the Gaudí's quotations in this article come from: PUIG BOADA, Isidre. El pensament de Gaudí. Barcelona: Col·legi Oficial d'Arquitectes de Catalunya / La Gaya Ciencia, 1981. [In catalan.]; GAUDÍ, Antoni . Manuscritos, artículos, conversaciones y dibujos. Edited by Marcià Codinachs. Múrcia: Comisión de Cultura del Colegio Oficial de Aparejadores y Arquitectos Técnicos, 1982 (Arquitectura; núm. 6). [In Spanish.]
16.PANE, Roberto. «Nova contribució a l'estudi de Gaudí, entre crítica d'art i psicologia». in VARIOUS AUTHORS. Antoni Gaudí: 1852-1926. Script, chronology and bibliography of the catalogue by Joan Bassegoda i Nonell. Barcelona: Fundació Caixa de Pensions, 1984. [Exhibition catalogue, Centre Cultural Caixa de Pensions de Barcelona, December 1984 - Januaryr 1985, p. 33. In Catalan]
17.Ibídem.
18.VARIOUS AUTHORS. Gaudí diseñador: Gaudí designer.Photogrphs by Francesc Català-Roca. Barcelona: Blume, 1978, p. 9 (Función y Forma = Function and form series). [Published to accompany the exhibition held in Barcelona in July 1977.] [Bilingual edition in Spanish and English.]
19.VARIOUS AUTHORS. Laboratori de Leonardo. IBM España, 1984.
20.PEVSNER, Nikolaus: Los orígenes de la arquitectura y el diseño modernos. Barcelona: Ediciones Destino, 1992, pp. 111-112..
21.RUBIÓ, Joan: Dificultats per arribar a la síntesi arquitectònica. Barcelona: Yearbook of the Associació d'Arquitectes de Catalunya, 1913, pp. 63-79..
22.SUGRAÑES, Domènec: Disposició estàtica del Temple de la Sagrada Família. Barcelona: Yearbook of the Associació d'Arquitectes de Catalunya, 1923, pp. 17-36.
23.FOLGUERA, Francesc: "L'arquitectura gaudiniana", in RÀFOLS, J. F. Gaudí. Barcelona: Editorial Canosa, 1928.
24.COLLINS, G. R.: Antoni Gaudí. New York: Braziller, 1948.
25.TARRAGÓ, Salvador: "Entre la estructura y la forma". A + U 86 [Tokyo], (December 1977). [Also published in VARIOUS AUTHORS: Antoni Gaudí. Barcelona: Ediciones del Serbal, 1991.] [In Spanish.]
26BASSEGODA I NONELL, Joan: "El arco de festón" in Memorias de la Real Academia de Ciencias y Artes de Barcelona, (March 1986). [In Spanish.]
27.FERNÁNDEZ CASADO, Carlos: Gaudí visto desde la arquitectura del ingeniero. Opening address of the 1979-1980 academic year at the Escola Tècnica Superior d'Arquitectura de Barcelona. Barcelona: Publicacions de la Reial Càtedra Gaudí, April 2000 (Series 2000; no. 4). [In Spanish.]