Abstract

For the first time in the history of architecture, Antonio Gaudí used structural elements based on complex ruled surfaces – beyond traditional conical or cylindrical surfaces –, catenary vaults or branched pillars, in order to increase the structural efficiency of his buildings. The catenary arch had been used only in the construction of bridges by a few engineers, starting in the 18th century. Arata Isozaki said that the “scale model and the structural analysis of the church at the Güell Colony are the most original in the history of architecture”. Beyond his artistic and creative genius – which has now been widely studied and acknowledged – Gaudí was a revolutionary architect, whose experimental approaches to the design and calculation of structures implied a focus that was so far ahead of its time that later, hugely significant engineers and architects have coincided with the methods and systems used by Gaudí half a century earlier. Norman Foster said in reference to Gaudí: “his methods, a century later, are still revolutionary”.