The Sagrada Familia Cathedral was designed by the famous architect Antoni Gaudi. This Spanish Gothic piece of architecture that consists of the temple and 18 towers the centre tallest towers representing Jesus Christ. Gaudi designed in this way to allow the building to have a unique perspective from whatever angle you are looking at it in. I think this is a strong concept as it draws your attention in and demands that you look at every detail. This is an attribute that I could use in my own work.
As I approached the building the grand nature of its structure is the first thing that you realise. With the highest point reaching 172m in height it’s difficult to even take the entire cathedral in at one glance. At a closer glimpse you can notice the amount of detailed religious sculptures adorned on the building. Gaudi designed three famous scenes on the front facing exterior for the building consisting of: The Glory, the Nativity and Passion. Gaudi identified what the purpose of the building was and how he could integrate this into its design. This is an extremely important point to consider when designing as it allows the company, brand or organisation to feel a connection with the spaces well as with the customers.
FIG 1
When walking through the entrance your once again taken back by the greatness of the space. It matches the intricate craftsmanship of the outside perfectly with columns creating almost an isle from one side of the building to the other. At the top of each column it began to branch off and integrated into the curved ceiling in a very natural and organic way. This is what Gaudi was trying to achieve as he wanted the Sagrada Familia to reflect Nature, life and death. He was inspired by the idea of forests and their organic forms. This follows Gaudi’s earlier work which never consisted of straight lines. This has influenced me as I am inspired by the level of thought that must have been used to create even the smallest pieces of this structure. Although I feel a simpler approach could have been taken in areas, I believe that there are no limits when it comes to design and what can be achieved if you plan. This has allowed me to take design risks and experiment with the usual way of doing things. This can be seen in my Berghaus project where I pushed the limits and created a much smaller but transferable Pop-up shop.
FIG 2
The stone material which incudes reinforced concrete, sandstone and granite reflects the traditional Catalonian building style. It gives the Cathedral a natural feel which again links to Gaudi’s intentions to link nature into the building. Due to the fact these materials have a very similar finish, the building looks slightly on note, a sandy beige colour. The only hint of colour that can be seen is in the interior lighting. The stain glass windows around the exterior walls create spots of bright coloured shadows. Large windows are the main source of light in the Cathedral as there aren’t any artificial light fixtures due to the year it was designed. The use of natural light is something I have used in my own work as I feel the use of shadows can be really interesting. My exhibition stand project replies on natural light, just like the Sagrada Familia, and the shadows and patterns the sun can create at different points of the day.
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FIG 1 - https://www.archdaily.com/438992/ad-classics-la-sagrada-familia-antoni-gaudi
FIG 2 - https://www.flickr.com/photos/briancparks/7487060838