Antoni Gaudí
Surpassing the Gothic

This new constructional technique allowed Gaudí to achieve his greatest architectural goal; to perfect and surpass Gothic style. The hyperboloid vaults have their center where Gothic vaults placed their keystone, and the hyperboloid allows for a hole in this space to let natural light in. In the intersection between vaults, where Gothic vaults have ribs, the hyperboloid allows holes as well, which Gaudí employed to give the impression of a starry sky.=

Gaudí complemented these insights with a unique spatial vision that allowed him to conceive his designs in three dimensions. He said that he had acquired this spatial sense as a boy by looking at his father's drawings of boilers and stills. Because of this spatial conception, Gaudí preferred to work with casts and scale models or even improvise on-site as a work progressed. Reluctant to draw plans, he sketched his works only when required.

Another of Gaudí's innovations in the technical realm was the use of a scale model to calculate structures: for the church of the Colònia Güell, he built a 1:10 scale model with a height of 4 metres (13 ft) in a shed next to the building. There, he set up a model that had strings with small bags full of birdshot hanging from them. On a drawing board that was attached to the ceiling he drew the floor of the church, and he hung the strings (for the catenaries) with the birdshot (for the weight) from the supporting points of the building—columns and corners. These weights produced a catenary curve in both the arches and vaults. At that point, he took a photograph that, when inverted, showed the structure for columns and arches. Gaudí then painted over these photographs with gouache or pastel. The outline of the church defined, he recorded every detail of the building: architectural, stylistic and decorative.

Gaudí's position in the history of architecture is that of a creative genius who, inspired by nature, developed a unique style that attained technical perfection as well as aesthetic value. Gaudí's structural innovations were to an extent the result of his journey through various styles. These styles culminated in his work, which reinterpreted and perfected them. Gaudí passed through the historicism and eclecticism of his generation without connecting with other 20th century architectural movements. The Bauhaus school represented an antithetical evolution to that initiated by Gaudí, given that it later reflected the disdain and the initial lack of comprehension of the work of the Modernista architect.

Among other factors that led to the initial neglect of Gaudi's work was that despite his numerous assistants and helpers, Gaudí created no school, never taught, nor did he leave written documents. Some of his subordinates adopted his innovations, above all Francesc Berenguer and Josep Maria Jujol; others, like Cèsar Martinell, Francesc Folguera and Josep Francesc Ràfols graduated towards Noucentisme, leaving the master's trail. Despite this, influence can be discerned in some architects that either formed part of the Modernista movement or departed from it and who had had no direct contact with him, such as Josep Maria Pericas (Casa Alòs, Ripoll), Bernardí Martorell (Olius cemetery) and Lluís Muncunill (Masia Freixa, Terrassa). Nonetheless, Gaudí left a deep mark on 20th-century architecture: masters like Le Corbusier declared themselves admirers, and he inspired other architects such as Pier Luigi Nervi, Friedensreich Hundertwasser, Oscar Niemeyer, Félix Candela, Eduardo Torroja and Santiago Calatrava. Frei Otto used Gaudí's forms in the construction of the Munich Olympic Stadium. In Japan, the work of Kenji Imai bears evidence of Gaudí's influence, as can be seen in the Memorial for the Twenty-six Martyrs of Japan in Nagasaki (Japanese National Architecture Award in 1962), where the use of Gaudí's famous "trencadís" stands out.
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