Gaudí's upside-down church
Gaudí designed a church upside down, with hemp ropes, little sacks of lead and a camera.
The story holds up against the record.
The legend says
Gaudí designed a church upside down.
He hung strings from the ceiling, each weighed down with little sacks of lead shot.
Gravity pulled every string into a curve. It looked nothing like a building.
Then he photographed it, and turned the picture upside down. Every hanging curve became an arch that stands.
He worked this way for about ten years before building began, for a church at the Colonia Gwell.
Then he carried those lessons to the Sagrada Família: its leaning, branching columns.
A copy of the model still hangs in its museum. So look up: gravity drew those columns, upside down.
This is the story as it is told. We tell it as a story. Below is what the record holds.
The record shows
7 facts, each checked against a source we opened. Tap a source to read the line that carries it.
- 01
Gaudí hung ropes/strings from the ceiling with small lead-filled sacks attached
1en.wikipedia.org, "Church of Colònia Güell"
Gaudí hung hemp ropes attached to lead-filled sacks from the ceiling.
2amusementlogic.com, polyfunicular model article
Gaudí would hang strings and, at midpoints or other strategic points, attach small weighted sacks.
3studiomatrx.org
He built hanging models: networks of cords suspended from a board, each low point loaded with a little bag of birdshot (perdigons)
- 02
Gravity pulls each loaded string into a curve in pure tension (a catenary)
3studiomatrx.org
A cord can only pull, so every curve a loaded string takes is a shape in pure tension — a funicular or catenary line
2amusementlogic.com, polyfunicular model article
Thanks to gravity, these tiny sacks naturally produced a series of force curves known as catenaries.
- 03
He photographed the model and turned the image upside down; the hanging curves become arches/columns that stand
1en.wikipedia.org, "Church of Colònia Güell"
Gaudí photographed his model, flipped the image, and traced over it while adding some ornament and design.
3studiomatrx.org
Photograph the hanging web, turn the photograph upside down, and every tension curve becomes its mirror image: an arch or a leaning column in pure compression
2amusementlogic.com, polyfunicular model article
photograph it and rotate the image — so that the lines which had previously hung down were now transformed into arches and columns supported from below
- 04
The model was for the church at the Colònia Güell
4sagradafamilia.org, polyfunicular model agreement (official)
The polyfunicular model is a 1983 reproduction of Gaudí’s inverted model, which has been lost, designed to work on the project for the church at Colònia Güell.
1en.wikipedia.org, "Church of Colònia Güell"
All that remains of the model for Church of Colònia Güell is an image in a book written by architect Josep Francesc Ràfols i Fontanals.
- 05
Commissioned 1898, building began 1908: about ten years before building
1en.wikipedia.org, "Church of Colònia Güell"
who enlisted the help of architect Antoni Gaudí in 1898. However, work was not started until 1908, 10 years after commission.
3studiomatrx.org
Gaudí developed this method over a decade at the crypt of the Colònia Güell
- 06
Solutions from the model were later used at the Sagrada Família, such as the inclined branching pillars
5sagradafamilia.org (official)
Many of the solutions Gaudí experimented with using this model were later employed at the Temple of the Sagrada Família, such as the inclined branching pillars and the hyperbolic paraboloid surfaces.
- 07
A reproduction (1983) of the lost original model is on display in the Sagrada Família's museum
5sagradafamilia.org (official)
The polyfunicular model is a 1983 reproduction of Gaudí’s inverted model, which has been lost … the polyfunicular model, which has been on display at the Temple museum for some time now
Timeline
- 1898CommissionedThe church at the Colònia Güell is commissioned.
- 1908Building beginsAbout ten years of work on the hanging model come before building starts.
- 1983A reproductionA copy of the lost original model is made; it is on display in the Sagrada Família's museum.
Left out on purpose
What we chose not to say in the video, and why. If a comment says "you forgot…", the answer is probably here.
Sources disagree; a photograph turned upside down is the better-supported version.
The sources say strings and ropes.
Single source.
Single, non-official source.
Adds nothing spoken.
The famous model was made for the church at the Colònia Güell; the Sagrada Família took its solutions from it.
Read the video's transcript
Leo Gaudí designed a church upside down.
Sara He hung strings from the ceiling, each weighed down with little sacks of lead shot.
Leo Gravity pulled every string into a curve. It looked nothing like a building.
Sara Then he photographed it, and turned the picture upside down. Every hanging curve became an arch that stands.
Leo He worked this way for about ten years before building began, for a church at the Colonia Gwell.
Sara Then he carried those lessons to the Sagrada Família: its leaning, branching columns.
Leo A copy of the model still hangs in its museum. So look up: gravity drew those columns, upside down.
Sara Stories first, facts follow. Follow Dornix.
Sources
- en.wikipedia.org, "Church of Colònia Güell"
- amusementlogic.com, polyfunicular model article
- studiomatrx.org
- sagradafamilia.org, polyfunicular model agreement (official)
- sagradafamilia.org (official)
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