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EXTRA CHAPTER

The lesser known Gaudí

The designerThroughout his career, the architect designed a multitude of wooden, wrought iron, ceramic, bronze, glass, plaster and brass objects (such as the door handles of La Pedre-ra, in the images alongside), many of them characterized by their ergonomic shapes.

In an architect's work, where work is commissioned, circumstances are decisive. Casa Vicens, projected by Antoni Gaudí in 1878, was finished ten years later due to its promoter's lack of funds. Added to that, the Moroccan city of Tangiers could have boasted a small scale Sagrada Familia if the Franciscan Missions project, which included solutions similar to those applied in the Expiatory Temple, had come to fruition. Nonetheless, it did not get any further than paper and neither did the bridge on the Pomaret stream, the hunting box in Garraf nor the church that was supposed to rest upon the Colony Güell crypt. Other works by Gaudí, such as La Miranda -a summer residence in Llinars dels Vallès-, were demol-ished before they were could be considered patrimony worthy preserving. The Temple of the Sagrada Familia's schoolrooms, instead, evolved from provisional vocation and even today, a hundred years after construction, incite great admi-ration for their structural ingenuity and aesthetic originality.

Many of Antoni Gaudí's projects didn't get any further than the draft board, no longer exist or arouse little interest.

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NOTE

THE THREE-ARMED LAMP POSTS

The Plaça Reial lamp posts

Gaudí left a detailed description of the six-armed model, but not the three-armed one that can be seen in Pla del Palau. Two models of this lamp post were installed in Barcelone-ta neighbourhood, but later went missing.

Polychromy and monumentalityIn February 1878, architect Joan Martorell, for whom Gaudí was working as draftsman, recommend-ed the apprentice architect, who graduated just a month later, to car-ry out a commission for the City Council: the design of gas lamp posts that would be used on the city streets. Gaudí planned a six-armed model and a three-armed one, char-acterized by their polychromy and monumentality: a dark grey marble foot supports the cast iron column with bronze joints which hold up arms on two levels. High up on the lamp post, the artist placed the winged helmet and the caduceus -an olive wand entwined with two serpents, which were Mercury's symbols, God of commerce. In the end, the City Council only made six lamp posts, two of which -six-armed ones- are found in Plaça Reial and another two -three-armed ones-, in the square called Pla de Palau.

At the age of 25, when he hadn't yet graduated as architect, Gaudí received a commission from Barcelona City Hall to design the city's lamp posts.

Emblem of commerceGaudí devised the lamps' decorative ending with Mercu-ry's emblems -the winged helmet, wand and serpents- in ref-erence to Barcelo-na's commerce.

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Franciscan Missions in Tangiers

Some of the proposals for the Tangiers Mis-sions can be observed in Gaudí's other projects, such as the parabolic arch entranceway of the Teresian College or the towers of the church of the Güell Colony. Teresian college. Entrance. Güell Colony. Church.

NOTE

SOURCES OF INSPIRATION

Similar solutions for two projectsThe sketch of Sagrada Familia, in the image above, shows the similarity of the two projects.

Thirteen parabolic towersIn 1891, Gaudí travelled to Tangiers (Morocco) with Claudio López Bru, second Marquis of Comillas and brother-in-law of Eusebi Güell -the architect's patron-, in order to view the site on which the convent and college of the Franciscan Missions, sponsored by the Marquis, would be. Months later, Gaudí planned a complex of quad-lobulated ground plan, with a chapel in the centre, surrounded by courtyards and other rooms of circular ground plan, the largest of which would have been the school. A total of 13 towers of parabolic profile were going to top the arrangement, the highest one similar to a cimborio over the chap-el, with four more around it. The very same arrangement was what Gaudí chose years later when crowning Sagrada Familia. In the end, however, the missions project did not come about due to the finan-cial problems of the Marquis.

A sketch of the elevation is the only trace of this unrealized project that already in-cludes some solutions that Gaudí later employs on Sagrada Familia's towers.

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Inspired by Park GüellA group of neighbours from Sarrià, amongst whom included several of Gaudí's friends and clients, asked the architect to design a bridge to cross the Pomaret stream, which separated the neighbourhoods of Sarrià and Bonanova. Gaudí was in-spired by the viaducts that had been created a few years before in Park Güell in order to plan a structure with 25 alternate pillars in tribollilo style and slightly slanted, in order to withstand the pressure from the

The Pomaret bridgeStructureThe series of thick slanting pillars alter-nately placed in tri-bollilo style generat-ed a parabolic arch-way in the section and a profile that showed similarities to a herd of ele-phants.

bricked vaults that had to support the road. In the project's records, Gaudí proposed using reinforced concrete. Years later, the artist used this material on the decorative end-ings of the towers of the Nativity façade of the Sagrada Familia, be-coming one of the first constructors on the Peninsular to use this combi-nation of concrete and primordial steel in 20th century architecture. The bridge never got to be built due to the laying down of a railway line through the course of the stream. Park Güell. Viaduct over the drop of land.

In 1904, Gaudí planned a bridge to go across the Pomaret stream and connect two Barcelona neighbourhoods. In the end, the project did not come to fruition.

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150SymbologyAs he used to do in most of his works, Gaudí incorporated religious symbolism in this bridge project: the railings were going to be decorated with trencadís with phrases from a prayer dedicated to Saint Eulalia -Patron Saint of Barcelona- separat-ed by a X-shaped cross, on which the martyr's life ended.

TrencadísGaudí planned to use a polychrome ceramic work deco-ration for the railings on the bridge. Other materials projected for the work were reinforced concrete, rough stone and sea sand.

Inspiration. Gaudí devised the bridge using his Park Güell experience. Slanting pillars. Provide greater stability to the structure.

METRESwas the total length of the viaduct that was planned by Gaudí, which would cross the Pomaret stream. The maxi-mum height of the pillars had to be 15 metres higher than water level.

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23

La Miranda

The pedestri-an gatewayIts basic framework was a zig zag and was made using a complicated twisting iron technique.

NOTE

WROUGHT IRON WORK

The genius of Antoni Gaudí is evident in the wrought iron work that decorates the gates and railings of the villa. The gate for carriage access, now installed in Park Güell, was inspired by fishermen nets. The wall. Postcard of 1908. Park Güell. La Miranda's gateway. Detail. The fisherman's net.

YEARSwas how long La Miranda was left aban-doned, from the end of the Civil War, in 1939, to its definitive demolish-ment in 1962.

Pulled down in 1962Mateu, conservative politician and owner of the prestigious automobile manufacturer Hispano-Suiza, com-missioned Gaudí with a summer res-idence on the land he owned in Lli-nars del Vallès, a locality situated at the foot of Montseny, around 40 kil-ometres to the north-east of Barce-lona. Gaudí and Berenguer designed a small property with a hundred me-tre square ground plan whose most striking element was the look-out tower of cylindrical form and five levels, topped with a cupola covered with trencadís work. Gaudí com-bined masonry and brickwork, with a façade whose shape reminds of Casa Vicens, finished two decades before. After surviving the bombs of the Civil War, La Miranda was de-molished in 1962 so that a block of flats could be built in its place. Al-though there are no records of its in-terior, a local association is planning its reconstruction.

In 1906, Gaudí and his colleague Francesc Berenguer planned this summer residence for the automobile businessman Damià Mateu.

Effects of the Civil WarA bomb that explod-ed in 1939 on the neighbouring bridge left many surround-ing buildings in ruins except for Gaudí and Berenguer's look-out tower.

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The Sagrada Familia schoolroomsHuman dimensionsThe maximum height of the schoolrooms is six metres. They have five doorways, with access from the four façades, and a total of nineteen windows.

Brick roof

NOTE

THE INTERIOR OF THE SCHOOLROOMS

Renovated as a show-room to display Gaudí's work, since its transfer and restora-tion in the year 2002, the interior of the schoolrooms housed three classrooms, with a total capacity for 150 students. Exhibition. Gaudí's workshop. Detail. Original light. Division. South-east classroom.

An ephemeral buildingBetween 1908 and 1909, Gaudí con-structed this small sized building of humble appearance in order to pro-vide an education for the children of Sagrada Familia's workers and the poor families in the neighbourhood. Planned for temporary use, the ar-chitect kept to a tight budget and for this reason built the construc-tion from almost entirely brick. Its simplicity hides an extraordinary aesthetic originality and an innova-tive structure, whose most striking feature is the undulating warped roof, which allows water to drain away on either sides of the building and lightens the pressure on the walls, made from two layers of verti-cally positioned brick. In order to preserve the building beyond the construction of Sagrada Familia, in the year 2002 the schoolrooms were moved from their original location to where they are today, next to the Passion façade.

Situated at the foot of the majestic towers of Sagrada Familia, the schoolrooms surprise for their modest brick construction and the ingenuity of their structure.

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Ground floor planIn an area 24m by 12 m, Gaudí planned three rooms and toilets on the far ends.

The admiration of another geniusLe Corbusier, father of contemporary architec-ture, was very impressed by the schoolrooms' roof when visiting Sagrada Familia in 1928.

Warped roof

Va

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VISUAL GUIDE TO THE COMPLETE WORK OF ANTONI GAUDÍEXTRA CHAPTER PUBLISHED BY© DOS DE ARTE EDICIONES, S.L., BARCELONA, 2009 TEXTSMANAGING DIRECTORS:CARLOS GIORDANO AND NICOLÁS PALMISANOAUTHOR: RICARD REGÀSTRANSLATION: CERYS JONES GIORDANO AND DYLAN GIORDANO© DOS DE ARTE EDICIONES, S.L., BARCELONA, 2009

PHOTOGRAPHS AUTHORS: CARLOS GIORDANO AND NICOLÁS PALMISANO© DOS DE ARTE EDICIONES, S.L., BARCELONA, 2009

WITH THE FOLLOWING EXCEPTIONS:

• PHOTOGRAPHS INSIDE SCHOOLS OF TEMPLE OF DE LA SAGRADA FAMILIA © CARLOS GIORDANO, NICOLÁS PALMISANO AND JUNTA CONSTRUCTORA DEL TEMPLO DE LA SAGRADA FAMILIA

• PHOTOGRAPHS LA MIRANDA © FUNDACIÓ PRIVADA LA MIRANDA DE LLINARS DEL VALLÈS

ILLUSTRATIONSAUTHORS: CARLOS GIORDANO AND NICOLÁS PALMISANO© DOS DE ARTE EDICIONES, S.L., BARCELONA, 2009

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