2003 Master of Architecture
Complex Adaptive Systems and the Sagrada Família

The temple of the Sagrada Família has been an ongoing project for well over a century and has gone through the hands and minds of several architects. Since its inception in 1866, during the industrial revolution and the economical impetus of the Catalan bourgeoisie, the temple has been likened to a “book open to the world” telling the story of religious faith. Through its course of materialization, building technology has evolved at an exponential rate and has been employed in the temple’s construction on an “original” design.

My interest lies in a rereading of the temple as a complex adaptive system, both in terms of its relationship to the Gothic style and its evolution of building materials and technology.

The Sagrada Família is a manifestation of the continuation and transgression of Gothic Revivalism. Gaudí inherited the project one year after its commencement from the architect Francisco del Villar who proposed a Gothic plan. When Gaudí took over this plan, it could not be abandoned but he adapted it to his personal values and techniques. As construction continued, its growth was not based on the traditional ground-up method but a piecemeal one. Entire parts were completed at a time in order to impress investors. This resulted in a complex nonlinear transformation. Instead of growing vertically in a wholistic manner like a tree, it grew as components. This was made possible in part due to Gaudí’s structural ingenuity in the removal of the buttress. He viewed the buttress as an unnecessary imposition that negated the architect’s ability to control the distribution of natural light to the interiors. It was this engineering prowess that Le Corbusier admired on his visit in 1928.

Today, as construction continues, the design has been adapted to modern building materials and technology. This is yet another layer of transformation, not only structurally but also stylistically. Instead of stone and ceramic being crafted and assembled, reinforced concrete is being poured in place. The new pieces are smooth and monolithic, resembling the work of Santiago Calatrava. An inversion of forces has taken place. At its inception, the project was centripetal, meaning that it was expressing a more personal style and moving away from existing precedents. Now, it is centrifugal. Its expression is referring current works. This is in part due to a wholesale systematization of the design and the lack of its originator.

My research will entail documenting these transformations in relation to their references: historical and contemporary structures. The intention is to map out the forces that have shaped this project. In addition, a generative case study will be done, which takes the original plan that Gaudí started from. The idea is to experiment with a different growth model, which tests the flexibility of his structural principles.

My proposed itinerary will be based in Barcelona with sequential excursions to the following sites:

• The Alhambra, Granada, Spain
• The Córdoba Mosque, Córdoba, Spain
• The work of Santiago Calatrava in Seville and Barcelona, Spain