How Antoni Gaudi designed complex structures based on Catenary Systems
Several years ago I had an opportunity to visit Barcelona, Spain with my family. This was my grandfather's home port while stationed with the 6th Fleet of the US Navy from 1956-1961. My father wanted to show us the places he had lived, where he attended school, and the architecture that left a permanent impression on him. He spoke often about architect Antoni Gaudí and how his structures were ahead of their time, and unlike anything he had ever seen.
It was the highlight of my trip visiting the Gaudi structures that had now been turned into museums. These attractions were scattered throughout the city of Barcelona (and some not too far away in less populated areas), but most were within easy traveling distance from each other. We'd have a Gaudi destination everyday, since there was so much to absorb with each one. I observed that Gaudi used mathematics extensively in his structures, and was inspired by shapes that often appear in nature, such as soap bubbles, and his surroundings such as the wavy rock drippings of Montserrat. One museum even showed the design concept of the Sagrada Família - a series of chains suspended over a mirror. Looking into the mirror, I was able to see the shape of the church. This was one example of how Gaudi found design inspiration.
Antoni Gaudí was born in Catalonia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain, June 25, 1852. At an early age, he showed interest in architecture, eventually studying in Barcelona. During the late 1870s, Barcelona was the most modern city in Spain and was the home to a large creative community. He spent a brief time in the military, but later returned to Barcelona to finish his studies, and graduated from the...
... middle of paper ...
... arch structures can be represented by small chain models. Antoni Gaudi used this method to model the Sagrada Familia, as shown below.
Thrust force lines are the imaginary lines that indicate where the compressive force in a voussoir or block is located in the thickness of the arch. In an arch, the thrust lines always describe a catenary curve. If the thrust lines touch the inside (intrados) of the arch or leave the wall thickness, then a hinge is created and the arch or dome will buckle out and collapse. If the thrust lines touch the outside (extrados) of the arch or exit the wall thickness, then a hinge is created and the arch or dome will buckle in and collapse. In any masonry arch that stands, the catenary thrust lines are kept within the wall thickness; if thrust lines touch or leave the wall thickness then the arch collapses.
In this great time known as the Renaissance, many pieces of art that reflect humanism were created, but only one stands out like a sore thumb, Brunelleschi's Duomo di Santa Maria del Fiore! Since the Duomo is based off Roman architecture, many innovative ideas were used to create it, and because it was built to be enjoyed, not worshipped like the past pieces of religious art, the Duomo is, by far, the best creation to represent the
Built between 1550 and 1570, the Villa Rontonda, a Renaissance villa in Northern Italy, offered a new formula for the ideal Italian villa. The name “Rotunda” refers to the villa's circle within a square design. Palladio carefully used calculated mathematical equations to perfect the symmetry of the villa. Located on a hill, the Villa Rotonda features a centralized plan including four identical facades each with a projecting porch arranged symmetrically around a central round dome. Drawing from classical influences, each portico resembles an ionic temple front and each portico has a pediment adorned with statues. In fusing the temple porch onto a centrally planned dome covered building, Palladio clearly had the Pantheon in mind when designing the villa. Turning to antiquity, Palladio modeled his villa from Roman precedent, using distinctive elements to make his design innovative and contemporary. Like the aforementioned architects, though Palladio relied on classical ideals of symmetry and proportion, his ingenious design of the Villa Rontonda that allowed the landscape to be seen from all four sides of the villa was completely innovative at the time. Likewise, the Villa Rontonda differs from other buildings built at the time with centralistic plan and dome design. Additionally, Palladio introduced an innovation by combining a classic temple with a façade of a house. Traditionally, temple fronts were reserved for churches and public buildings, yet Palladio incorporates religious overtones into an otherwise secular space through adorning the villa with the temple façade. By designing a completely symmetrical building and using through the elegant use of circles and squares, Palladio created a sophisticated construction that emphasized balance and uniformity. Though seemingly simple from the exterior, the Villa
Galileo was born in Pisa Italy on February 15, 1564. Galileo was the first born child to Vincenzo Galilei and Giulia Ammannati. His family moved to Florence Italy after living in Pisa for ten years. In Florence he received education at the Camaldolese monastery in Vallombrosa. Later on in his life he decided to study medicine at the University of Pisa to study medicine. Wh...
Sullivan, Mary Ann. Images of San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane (facade) by Borromini, 1665-76, Rome. Digital Imaging Project. 2005. 02 02 2011 .
It is often that people consider Filippo Brunelleschi as the most established and influential Architect during the Renaissance era. For others, making a simple mistake of giving him credit for the design and build of the entire Florence cathedral instead of the dome itself. It’s certain that Brunelleschi complete the great dome, but what if the dome was unsuccessful and the classical information was lost. Brunelleschi in this situation couldn’t solve the problem without the research on classical Rome architecture to help him out, for example, harmonious form, mathematical proportion, and unit of measurement based on the human scale. For instance, if all the elements of the ancient information were lost forever, and to never see again. Just picture the Santa Maria De Fiore without a dome structure. The greatest accomplishments in engineering history and form to never exist. This drawing is a drawing is a depiction of that reality being presented. The unfortunate part about this, it was true for Florence to experience a dome-less cathedral in any type of weather before the contest for a commission that Brunelleschi won. During the time, many centuries ago Florence, Italy was a city of visionaries like Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo flourished here in an atmosphere that celebrated imagination and innovation. Florence was very big on outshining the competition with visible landmark. The decision on picking the cathedral was simple because of the embarrassment of a big whole open in the structure that couldn’t be done.
On May 11th, 1904 a young artist by the name of Salvador Dali was born in Figueres, Catalonia, Spain. An artist who would grow and who works would impact the world. Dali has several museums around the world with his artworks displayed. During my visit to the Dali Museum located in Saint Petersburg, Florida it was an intriguing and informative trip into the artwork of Salvador Dali.
Painter, sculptor, architect, and poet Michelangelo, one of the most famous artists of the Italian Renaissance, was born Michelangelo di Ludovico Buonarroti Simoni on March 6, 1475, in Caprese, Italy. Michelangelo was the second of five sons to his father, Ludovico Buonarroti, and mother, Francesca di Neri di Miniato del Serra. Due to his mother’s illness, Michelangelo was entrusted to a wet nurse in Settignano who belonged to a family of stonemasons. He later joked, “With my wet nurse’s milk, I sucked in the hammer and chisels I use for my statues.” According to Michelangelo’s biographer Ascanio Condivi, who wrote under the guidance of the artist himself, it was this fact, together with his birth under the favor of Mercury and Venus that caused
Q: Use St. Peter’s Basilica and Donato Bramante’s Tempietto in Rome, in opposition to John Balthasar Neumann’s Pilgrimage Church of Vier(7) in Bamburg, Germany, to argue that a rational engagement with architecture is a more effective means to comprehend and understand architectural form. During the period of Renaissance, human’s thought and intelligence has reached its highest and its effect on the architectural form, it became clear and its engagement of rational aspect on the building. Mainly geometrical forms are the characteristics which can be identified. Not so long after the Renaissance period of Baroque architecture was introduced, rather than logic and reasoning they wanted to capture the emotional atmosphere by using the architectural elements such as light, height, crafted art, costly materials and so on as mentioned by(Scotti 2007, 5-10).
He changed art more profoundly than any other artist of this century. First famous for his pioneering role in Cubism, Picasso continued to develop his art with a pace and vitality comparable to the accelerated technological and cultural changes of the twentieth century. Each change embodied a radical new idea, and it might be said that Picasso lived several artistic lifetimes. Picasso was born on October 25, 1881, in Malaga, Spain, son of an artist, Jose Ruiz, and Maria Picasso. Rather than adopt the common name Ruiz, the young Picasso took the rarer name of his mother. An artistic prodigy, Picasso, at the age of 14, completed the one-month qualifying examination of the Academy of Fine Arts in Barcelona in one day. From there he went to the Academy of San Fernando in Madrid, returning in 1900 to Barcelona, where he frequented the city's famous cabaret of intellectuals and artists, Els Quatre Gats.
In the Florence Cathedral, Florence, Italy, there is a cathedral church whose octagonal dome, built without the aid of scaffolding, was considered the greatest engineering feat of the early Renaissance. Dedicated to Santa Maria del Fiore, Our Lady of the Flower, it is also known as the Duomo, after the Italian word for cathedral. Created by many great Early Modern artists, this piece of architecture is a perfect example the Renaissance style. We can come to a better understanding of why this is so by exploring what the characteristics of the Renaissance “style”. To understand the properties of the Florence Cathedral that fit the Early Modern style, I will begin with a description and its history. The cathedral's architectural style, although greatly influenced by French Gothic elements remained distinctively Florentine, especially the geometric patterns of red, green, and white marble on the building's exterior. Construction of the cathedral began in 1294 on the site of a Christian church founded in the 6th or 7th century and continued until 1436. Several celebrated Italian architects were involved in the project, including Giotto, Arnolfo di Cambio, Andrea Orcagna, and, most notably, Filippo Brunelleschi, who was responsible for designing and building the dome. The cathedral's exterior is ornamented with sculpture and mosaics by Italian artists Donatello, Nanni di Banco, and Domenico Ghirlandaio, among others. The building's stained-glass windows are the work of the Italian architect and artist Lorenzo Ghiberti, and the interior is decorated with sculpture and fresco paintings by several Renaissance masters. Construction of the campanile (bell tower), situated to the right of the entrance to the Duomo, was begun by Giotto and completed according to his plans in 1359, after his death. Nearly 278 ft high, the campanile is embellished with red, green, and white marble panels of relief sculpture by Italian artists Andrea Pisano and Luca della Robbia, and niches with sculpted figures by Donatello and other masters. Facing the cathedral and campanile is a smaller, octagonal structure, the Baptistery of San Giovanni, noted for its gilt-bronze doors, elaborately worked in high relief by Andrea Pisano and Lorenzo Ghiberti. With that background information about the cathedral, one question comes to mind: what is it that makes the Renaissance style distinct? Renaissa...
Originally a Gothic town hall, the Palazzo della Ragione or Basilica (commissioned in 1549), was on the verge of crumbling and Palladio won a competition to redesign it. His answer was to encase it on three sides with a two-storey loggia that provided reinforcement and transformed the exterior with classic columned arcades on two levels. Arches were placed between pilasters, Doric on the lower level, Ionic above, supporting entablatures. In each bay, the arch rests on small columns placed away from the larger pilasters with a rectangular gap in between - now known as the ‘Palladian motif’.
After completion of this step the architects use the surveying drawing to develop a working drawing for the building. In these drawing you will see triangles, rectangles, squares, arches and other geometry shapes and forms to create their design. The architects through our history have used these shapes to create famous structures all over the world. If you go back to Roman historical sites you will see such examples like the great Coliseum. A great example can be seen is the famous Egyptian pyramid. Some other famous structures are the Eiffel Tower which is in Italy, and Chrysler building in New York. If you look around your neighborhood houses, you will see these shapes.
Renzo stated in an interview, “Architecture is about exploring. Culturally, historically, psychologically, anthropologically, and topographically, every job is different.” Renzo is particularly well known for adapting designs to their location. He later went on to say “(architecture) should make a contribution to the contex. … you must employ a homeopathic process, ... you can easily destroy their (cities) subtle dynamics” (Archinect, 2006).
What has surprised me the most, was just how influential Frank Lloyd Wright’s designs were and that some of the buildings that I adored were actually designed Wright himself. During my research, I found out that not only did Wright design stateside, but had just as many international projects as well. Out of all the international projects I looked up, my personal favorite has to be the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo. I never would have imagined someone coming up with a design to give a modern look to fit in with an ancient Asian architecture but Wright has once again blown my mind with this stunning and majestic design. It may just be a hotel but it looks like it is capable of becoming the Emperor’s own personal palace. The way how Frank Lloyd Wright is able to come up with these architectural designs just amazes me.
The buildings and skyscrapers today look totally different that what was there years ago. Each culture also had it’s own specialty when it came to architecture; Taking a long look at the way the modern world works is very fascinating. Major parts of daily lives were once used by people who lived hundreds of years before us. Many contributions have been made by many time periods. The Renaissance has changed not only the technology we use but, the art we see and what we read and write. Without the renaissance a lot of the advancements that have been made might not have existed. Many building and such are still around in Europe. They’ve been around for so many years and are still appreciated and fascinating. Although the style and the looks of architecture might have changed a lot of the techniques remain the same. Aliberti believed that proportion in architecture mattered just as much as aesthetic. Proportions make a building very strong, sturdy, and durable if done properly while building. Brunelleschi created lifting machines to help build tall buildings to make it easier and faster to create. He created ways to life up cranes and such. Today, we use many vehicles to enhance building