Why is LA SAGRADA FAMILIA taking so long to construct ?

[ardecila]

No, this one:

[Tyler Xyroadia]

BAH!
As has be said before, 140 years for a Cathedral is bloody fast considering build times of the past! When completed this Cathedral will actually be completed faster then virtually all others before it. There is a reason why don't HAVE Cathedrals like this anymore you know...

You kids these days have no patience!

[amor de cosmos]

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[Arquitect]

Originally Posted by Hed Kandi

Because many of Gaudi's original works were lost, how much of the newly constructed building is actually adhering to Gaudi's original work or has it simply been improvised?

As I understand it, the Passion Facade deviates greatly from Gaudi's work. As well as much of the newly constructed pillars are made of concrete where as the original were made out of stone.

Some of the design has already changed, if you look at some of the detailed icons on the newer facades, they look different than what Gaudi's do. Honestly, I think this is great, since you can see the evolution of the building as it is built. The master plan and major details are built according to Gaudi's ideas (of which we have more than enough information to complete it), while the smaller intricacies have to be figured out by contemporary architects.

This is not anything new when it comes to building grand structures. Many of the Italian Cathedrals and churches had multiple architects working on them, and often changing the design to match their aesthetic values. A great example of this is St. Peter's in the Vatican. The building took a very long time to complete, and had many head architects. Michelangelo's dome was actually the third iteration of a dome for it. If you look closely, you can actually see the "hand" of all the different people who designed it.

We have without a doubt grown accustomed to finishing grand projects within decades, but for most of history, huge projects like these would often span centuries to be finished.

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by ardecila

From what I understand, 140 years is a fairly quick completion time by European cathedral standards. What makes them so powerful is that they are not the singular vision of one man but the collective vision of a society. Hell, Chartres, Notre-Dame, etc were all built pretty much without the aid of plans on paper as we know them.

No kidding.. Hell, the Milan Cathedral started construction in the 1300's and was only completed in 1965!

[ThatOneGuy]

Hideous outside, amazing inside.

[Arquitect]

Originally Posted by ThatOneGuy

Hideous outside, amazing inside.

Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man.

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Tyler Xyroadia

BAH!
As has be said before, 140 years for a Cathedral is bloody fast considering build times of the past! When completed this Cathedral will actually be completed faster then virtually all others before it. There is a reason why don't HAVE Cathedrals like this anymore you know...

You kids these days have no patience!

This. In fact there are a great number of forever uncompleted Cathedrals in Europe.

[The_Architect]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

This. In fact there are a great number of forever uncompleted Cathedrals in Europe.

Even in North America.. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York started in 1892 and is still under construction.

[amor de cosmos]

ETAs for various parts & misc construction shots:

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[MolsonExport]

One is gaudier than the other.

[amor de cosmos]

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[MolsonExport]

^awesome video

[amor de cosmos]

From: ARCHITECT January 2014
Posted on: January 1, 2014
Technology
End in Sight
With newfound modeling capabilities and insight into Antoni Gaudí’s vision, the chief architect of the Basílica de la Sagrada Família aims to complete the long-stalled project by 2026.
By Ian Volner

As construction deadlines go, 130 years certainly seems like a generous allowance. But in cathedral years, that’s almost a drop in the bucket. After all, Germany’s Cologne Cathedral broke ground in 1248 and wrapped up centuries later in 1880. The still-rising Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan is already 121 years old, with no completion date in sight. Other structures, such as England’s Coventry Cathedral, were generations in the making, only to be destroyed by war, fire, or structural failure and then repaired or built anew. From the nave to the transept to the last finial of the westwork, creating a church fit for a bishop entails a long-term commitment.

The fact, then, that the Basílica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família in Barcelona, Spain, first got underway 13 decades ago would be almost unremarkable but for the particular character of the basilica itself, and of the man who designed it. The massive church—technically not a cathedral by Catholic law, the official seat or cathedra of the bishop being the nearby Catedral de la Santa Creu—is unlike any other house of worship in the world with its well-known, spiky, fanciful, mud-castle-like ensemble of swirling towers and twisting columns. Its architect, Catalan-born Antoni Gaudí, was among the giants of European architecture and a major transitional figure at the moment when 19th-century Beaux-Arts historicism was giving way to 20th-century Modernism. Sagrada Família is the fullest expression of his highly idiosyncratic vision.

Since its construction was first halted in 1936 amidst the tumult of the Spanish Civil War, the basilica’s state of incompletion has become part and parcel of its very identity: The cranes, rubble, and half-finished sculptural friezes around the site seem like permanent fixtures of the streetscape. Funding holdups, strikes, and problems deciphering Gaudí’s intentions have led to endless delays since construction resumed in 1939. Many have simply come to assume it will never be done. Toni García, a Barcelona native and culture writer for Spanish newspaper El País, joked that the state of affairs has entered the local patois: “When you want to say, ‘Oh, that’ll never happen,’ you say, ‘Sure—it’ll happen when Sagrada Família is finished.’ ”

http://www.architectmagazine.com/tec...nd-date_o.aspx

[amor de cosmos]

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[amor de cosmos]

english & spanish

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[amor de cosmos]

Student team build Sagrada Familia from ice in Finland
15 May 2014



Last year a team of students from TU/e built the world’s biggest ice dome, with a diameter of 30 meters, in Finland. At the end of this year another team from TU/e intend to travel to the frozen north to take on an even bigger challenge. They plan to build a model of the Sagrada Familia church from pykrete – ice reinforced with wood fibers. And they aim to complete the 40 meter high model (built on a scale of 1:4) of the famous church in Barcelona in just three weeks.

“We could have just decided to build another, even larger, dome”, TU/e lecturer and project leader ir. Arno Pronk explains. “But in building terms the Sagrada Familia is a much bigger challenge. And of course it’s very recognizable.” He also thinks the timing will be tougher than last year, partly because the ice basilica is a lot more complex. Last year the building work was delayed by one and a half weeks because there was no frost in Juuka (Finland) – the weather hadn’t been so mild at that time of the year for the preceding 146 years. “If the weather is the same as last year we’ll never be able to do it”, laughs Pronk. The team will leave on 28 December, and the opening is scheduled for 17 January 2015. In the town of Juuka they’re planning to make it into a big event.

Focus on structural aspects
Pronk and the two students who are leading the project together with him, Teun Verberne and Jordy Kern, want to show that pykrete is an excellent building material for temporary structures. “You can use it to build thin-walled temporary structures that are safe and low-cost”, says Pronk. “Our technique enables environment-friendly applications such as seasonal storage in agriculture, the offshore industry and expeditions, as well as for recreational facilities like ice hotels.” That’s why the team are focusing mainly on the structural aspects of the building. “The structures in the work of the architect Gaudí are scientifically the most interesting”, Pronk explains. “And although the ice building will have the same shape as the Sagrada Familia, it won’t have the same decorative exterior.”

Three times as strong
A 50-strong team will build the ice basilica by spraying thin layers of water and snow onto large, inflated molds and allowing it to freeze. They first spray a layer of snow, followed by a layer of water containing 10% sawdust. That mixture, called pykrete, is immediately absorbed by the snow and then freezes. The wood fiber content makes the material three times as strong as normal ice, and it’s also a lot tougher.

Snow cannon
Once a strong layer has formed, the builders allow the molds to empty and then remove them. Because the structure is more complex than last year’s dome, they have to monitor the quality of the building material even more closely. It’s also a challenge to pump the pykrete up and spray it at a height of 40 meters. This time the builders will take a snow cannon with them to avoid a repeat of the snow shortage experienced last year. They plan to work in shifts, round the clock, in the freezing cold, because any longer interruptions would cause the equipment to freeze up.

Barcelona
For Built Environment students Teun Verberne and Jordy Kern this project is also their graduation project. They already visited Barcelona earlier this year to study the real Sagrada Familia, and they’re in contact with the basilica’s project architects Mark Burry en Jordi Fauli.

http://www.tue.nl/en/university/news...ce-in-finland/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases...0606101950.htm

http://www.structuralice.com

[Gava]

Originally Posted by Hed Kandi

While in India a few months ago I had a chance to visit the remarkable Hindu temple, Akshardham. Akshardham is an interesting temple in that it not only boasts some of the most magnificent sculptures and detailing seen anywhere, but it was also built in less than 5 years and constructed using methods that date back thousands of years. In fact, the entire temple is built without the use of steel nor concrete. Akshardham officially opened in 2005.


It was then that I pondered the construction of another temple, La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. This church also lays claim to an outstanding level of detail and yet it has been under constuction since 1882 and is not expected to be complete until 2026.


Though both edifices are host to an impressive level of detail, how is it that Akshardham was completed in a fraction of the time compared with La Sagrada Familia?

Sagrada Familia is basically a gigantic puzzle made up of small peices of stones cut to their exact shape and size. Back in the days of Gaudi, that was done by hand, people with a hammer and a chisel cuting away. In his era there was basically no method of speeding up the construction process regardless of funding so he calculated with a construction period lasting hundreds of years.

To make things even more complicated, he opted to use ruled geometry extensively, this he did because he wanted the church to be self supporting and at the same time as transparent as possible to let the most amount of daylight into the buliding he possibly could get away with.