Sagrada Familia - Exploring Light

Based on science we know that there is only so much the eye can see. It is bewildering the let the mind ponder on the possibility there could be a world beyond the limits of our perception; one that could be simultaneously coexisting with what we know.  Architecture is the condition of our built environment, and it is a component fabric that molds that which we can see. After visiting Antonio Gaudi's Sagrada Familia, I have come to think that this work is an example of architecture that pursues to reach the borders of our limited of perception. After visiting I learned that I could visit everyday for a lifetime and notice something which I did not know existed, or experience a space in a new way. Each hour of the day, day of the year, under different weather conditions I could probably learn something new, or miss something special that I was lucky enough to see in splendor on a sunny day. Other than being lit by artificial lighting as it is today, Goudi intended for the Sagrada Familia to be a light machine.

"Architecture is the masterly, correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light 

Our eyes are made to see forms in light; light and shade reveal these forms; cubes, cones, spheres, cylinders or pyramids are the great primary forms which light reveals to advantage; the image of these is distinct and tangible within us without ambiguity. It is for this reason that these are beautiful forms, the most beautiful forms. Everybody is agreed to that, the child, the savage and the metaphysician."

- Le Corbusier

Vers une architecture (1923)

I planned to visit Barcelona's Sagrada Familia months  before arriving in Spain. Prior to my visit I have read countless literature explaining the planning of the Sagrada Familia and Antonio Gaudi. I had also taken survey classes on early architecture, the principals, and prominent architects. There fore, I thought I knew plenty and that all I wanted was to visit. Little did I know at the time that I actually knew very little. it was upon arrival that my emotions took over into analyzing the experience of the space because although I've read about stained glass, height, and planning little had I read about how these things provoke emotion. Upon arrival I decided that I would not draw the long axis or the plans but the use of light in the space. Not only did it define the mass that contained the space, it also took the visitor and shifted them into an unseen dimension of exuberance . Subconsciously I began to take pictures, some were simple perspectives and others were quite awful detail shots. But eventually I began to take these large vertical perspectives, showing me how the light began to define the human's connection to the ground. Taken by this I began to draw it. Trying to define that aspect of light that provoked movement and exploration. 

LIght, Mass and Space - Antonio Gaudi's Sagrada Familia

Photo-Blog: 

Sketch Blog: 

Exploring Gaudi's use of light for exploring mass and light. Looking to the south western corridor 

The large dome spaces and use of stained glass to define mass

Use of natural light in the out most staircases becoming more intense you make your way up.

Stained glass and shadows

Categories: Antonio Gaudi, Barcelona, exploration of mass, light, sagrada familia, space, spain