Professor Mark Burry is a practising architect who has published internationally on two main themes: the life, work and theories of the architect Antoni Gaudí, and putting theory into practice with regard to ‘challenging’ architecture. He has been Senior Architect to the Sagrada Família Basilica Foundation since 1979 pioneering distant collaboration with his colleagues based on-site in Barcelona. In his talk he outlines the efforts to recover Gaudí's design from the surviving model fragments and will focus on aspects of the production with a focus on contemporary off-site fabrication. The rapid developments taking place in this arena will be discussed with a view to explaining the Sagrada Família’s role as a globally leading innovator meeting the challenges of making complex architecture practically and economically viable.
Gaudí Unseen: Completing the Sagrada Família. The exhibition and this accompanying book focus on the geometric system inherent in Gaudi’s design and its implementation in the completion of the Sagrada Familia- which, even after 125 years of building, remains one of the most extraordinary presentday construction projects.
Gaudí. La búsqueda de la forma. Este catálogo se publicó con motivo de la exposición, con el mismo nombre, que celebró el Año Internacional Gaudí en 2003. Se trata de un catálogo que ahonda en los aspectos más técnicos de la arquitectura de Gaudí relacionados con el espacio, geometría, estructura y construcción.
Tree-inspired dendriforms and fractal-like branching structures in architecture: A brief historical overview. The shapes of trees are complex and fractal-like, and they have a set of physical, mechanical and biological functions. The relation between them always draws attention of human beings throughout history and, focusing on the relation between shape and structural strength, architects have designed a number of treelike structures, referred as dendriforms. The replication and adoption of the treelike patterns for constructing architectural structures have been varied in different time periods based on the existing and advanced knowledge and available technologies. This paper, by briefly discussing the biological functions and the mechanical properties of trees with regard to their shapes, overviews and investigates the chronological evolution and advancements of dendriform and arboreal structures in architecture referring to some important historical as well as contemporary examples.
In-Finite Architectures: In Barcelona, the Sagrada Família by Antoni Gaudí. Oscar Tusquets. Domus, Milano.
¿Cómo pudimos equivocarnos tanto? Oscar Tusquets, arquitecto, pintor y diseñador, instigó un manifiesto en los sesenta contra la continuación de las obras de la Sagrada Familia. Pero tras una reciente visita al templo, revisa su oposición a los trabajos recién terminados.
Tristram Carfrae is one of Arup’s Deputy Chairs and an Arup Fellow. A structural engineer by practice, he has contributed to many award-winning buildings, including the Water Cube for the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. He currently leads Arup’s team helping complete Gaudi’s La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona using digital fabrication and modern methods of construction.