1 Antoni Gaud was a Spanish architect who worked almost entirely in Barcelona.

His unconventional style was characterized by freedom of form, voluptuous color and texture, and organic unity (Collins). Much of Gauds inspiration came from the natural world. He also incorporated his love of geometry and into his work. One of Gauds most famous works, the Expiatory Church of La Sagrada Famlia, features hyperboloids, hyperbolic paraboloids, helicoids, and conoids. Antoni Gaud was born in Reus, in the Catalonia region of Spain, on June 25, 1852. As a child he attended the Escolapian School, where excelled in geometry and arithmetic (The Sagrada Famlia). In 1869, Gaud moved to Barcelona to enroll in the Science Faculty at the University of Barcelona where he studied various braches of mathematics as well as chemistry, physics and geography. He was emitted into the Barcelona Province School of Architecture in 1874 and obtained his architects diploma four years later in 1878 (Roe 12). During his childhood, Gaud suffered from rheumatic fever. The illness forced him to spend a great deal of time resting (The Sagrada Famlia). To occupy his time, Gaud liked to observe nature. From his observations, he noticed that there are an infinite number of forms in nature, some which are highly suitable for structures, while others are more appropriate for decorative purposes. He also noted that structure and decoration frequently occur simultaneously in nature; that nature creates structural forms, based merely on functionality, that are both statically perfect and extremely beautiful (Roe 7). There have been many different styles of architecture employed throughout time. However architecture, from the early Egyptians to the present day, has always been based on simple geometry. Traditional architecture involves lines, two-dimensional figures and regular polyhedrons combined with spheres, ellipses and circles (Roe 8). Gauds observation of nature led him to see that these regular forms either do not exist in nature or, if they do, only rarely. He used the forms of nature in his architecture just as they are in reality, and not as artistic intellectualization. Gaud believed that if an architect looks for the

2 functional in his work, he will ultimately arrive at beauty. If he looks for beauty directly, he will only reach art theory, aesthetics, or philosophy, abstract ideas that he had no interest in (Bassegoda Nonell 8). Gaud observed that in nature many structures are composed of fibrous materials, such as wood, bone, muscle or tendon (Bassegoda Nonell 9). From a geometric perspective, fibers are ruled surfaces. Ruled surfaces are surfaces that can be generated by the movement of one straight line that follows a particular route (The Sagrada Famlia). There are four distinct ruled surfaces: helicoids, hyperboloids, conoids and parabolic paraboloids. Gaud saw these surfaces in nature and incorporated them into his architectural design for one of his most famous works, the Expiatory Church of La Sagrada Famlia. The Expiatory Church of La Sagrada Famlia was commissioned in 1874 by the Spiritual Association of the Devotees of St. Joseph. The plot of land the church was to be built on was finally purchased in 1881, after sufficient funds had been donated and the foundation was laid on March 19, 1882. The architect Francisco de Paula del Villar designed the church crypt in a neo-Gothic style. Shortly after building began on the crypt, Villar resigned from the project; his successor was Antoni Gaud. Gaud would continue to work on La Sagrada Famlia until his death in 1926. After his death, the project was continued under the direction of his associates (The Sagrada Famlia). Antoni Gaud knew that he would not live long enough to see the completion of La Sagrada Famlia. While he was still alive, Gaud organized the entire project and its construction so that it could be carried out following his ideas after his death (The Sagrada Famlia). He defined important parts of the project in plaster models, so that subsequent architects could use his guidelines for the construction. To

3 help with the interpretation of his plans, Gaud used only geometrical forms and established all the laws of relation between them. In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, Gauds workshop burnt down and the models he had left to guide the construction of La Sagrada Famlia were destroyed. Many pieces of the plaster models were recovered; published plans and photographs of the original models were also conserved and Gauds followers left books with all the information they had noted down after talking to him. The models were able to be reconstructed using the recovered plaster pieces and the photographs. The reconstructed models allowed the church to continued to be built following Gauds original nature based design, a design composed of the four distinct ruled surfaces. (The Sagrada Famlia). The first ruled surface is the helicoid. The helicoid is a ruled surface generated by a straight line that revolves according to a spiral around a vertical axis (The Sagrada Famlia). In nature, helicoids can be observed in trees; the helicoid is the form of a tree trunk (Bassegoda Nonell 9). The helicoid, according to Gaud, represents the ascending movement that relates earth and heaven. The spiral staircases within La Sagrada Famlia are helicoids. (The Sagrada Famlia). These staircases also form fractals when look at form above. The staircases leading up the central main towers of the church create a fractal spiral design reminiscent of a spiral seashell. Helicoids were also used to create the shafts of the double twisted columns.

4 The hyperboloid is a surface generated by a hyperbola which revolves around a circle or ellipse (The Sagrada Famlia). According to Gaud, hyperboloids were symbolic of the movement and properties of light. Consequently, he used hyperboloids on all the points where light had to pass through to be diffused and transmitted from one part of the church to another. Light from the attic has to pass into the nave through the vaults, so Gaud pierced the vaults with hyperboloids. Hyperboloids were also used on the windows in La Sagrada Famlia (The Sagrada Famlia). A conoid is a surface formed by a straight line which is displaced above another straight line an d above a curve (The Sagrada Famlia). To construct a conoid, a sinusoidal guideline is traced on the ground and a straight bar placed at a certain height as a second guideline. Resting on these two guidelines, one a straight line and one a curve, are the straight lines that generate the surface, which are the whole group of tensed strings linked to the upper bar that seek the line marked below to act as a guideline for raising the undulating wall (The Sagrada Famlia). The conoid is a form frequently found in the leaves of trees (Bassegoda Nonell 9). Gaud used the conoid form on the faades and the roofs of the Provisional Schools of La Sagrada Famlia (The Sagrada Famlia). For the roof, wooden beams are the generatrices that rest on the sinusoidal profile of the faades on one side, and on the central interior main beam on the other (Jamiel).

5 The fourth rule surface, the paraboloid, is a twisted surface of parabolic sections which is the result of displacement of a straight line above two other lines that cross in the space (The Sagrada Famlia). The webs formed by tendons between the fingers of the hand are a natural example of a hyperbolic paraboloid. The hyperbolic paraboloid is the ruled surface that Gaud used most frequently. Generally the shape is bound by four straight lines and can be generated from a twisted quadrilateral, a quadrilateral with the four sides in different planes. Due to the fact that all generatrices of the shape rest on two straight lines, Gaud found this shape representative of the Holy Trinity. He believed that one of the straight lines represented the Father, and the opposite side the Son, the Holy Spirit was the generatrix that supported the two and joined them permanently (The Sagrada Famlia). Gaud used hyperbolic paraboloids in La Sagrada Famlia for the roof of the nave; the central towers of the church, dedicated to Jesus Christ, Virgin Mary, and the four Evangelists, are formed by vertically stretched hyperbolic paraboloids. (The Sagrada Famlia). Antoni Gaud was a visionary architect who incorporated his love of geometry and nature into his work. One of Gauds most famous works, the Expiatory Church of La Sagrada Famlia, features hyperboloids, hyperbolic paraboloids, helicoids, and conoids. The complex geometries of La Sagrada Famlia so coincide with its architectural structure that the church gives the appearance of being a natural object in complete conformity with natures laws.

6 Works Cited Bassegoda Nonell, Juan. Antonio Gaudi: Master Architect. New York: Abbeville Press Publishers, 2000. Collins, George R. Antoni Gaud. Encyclopedia Brtannica. Encyclopedia Britannica Inc., 2011. Web. 14 Nov. 2011. <http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/226989/Antoni-Gaudi>. Jamiel, Abby, Dawn Ely, Mike Moran, and Ryan Bailey. Nature Breathes Mathematics: Mathematics as the Language of Natural Architecture. 2010. Roe, Jeremy. Antoni Gaud. New York: Parkstone Press International, 2009. The Sagrada Famlia. La Sagrada Famlia. Web. 31 Oct. 2011. <http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/index.php>.