What does the Sagrada Familia’s form tell us about its function?
Antoni Gaudi, La Sagrada Familia, Basilica
The Sagrada Familia is a basilica that has been under construction since 1882, designed by Antoni Gaudi. Gaudi dedicated his life to this masterpiece and near the end of his life he even lived in the Basilica. When Gaudi died in 1926, only a quarter of the construction had been completed. Construction is estimated to be finished by 2026.
Gaudi was always inspired by natural forms and once said ‘originality consists of returning to the origin’. He stayed true to his words and did not include straight lines in his designs as nature has no straight lines. The Sagrada Familia is one of the most well known buildings designed by Gaudi and inspired by the natural world. It’s function is to be a place of worship, however Gaudi uses the idea of nature to uphold religious values and reflect biblical moments. The inside of the Basilica has been designed to look like a canopy of leaves while the pillars, which are 22 metres high, are intended to look like huge tree trunks. So that inside it feels like a forest where the canopy allows a lot of natural light to shine through. Another fascinating feature of the Sagrada Familia are the two main facades. One façade is the Passion façade, and the other, the Nativity façade. These two represent the birth and death of Jesus Christ. On the Passion façade, the stained glass windows are green and blue, which when the sun shines through them, drench the whole Basilica in blue melancholy light, to reflect death. On the other hand, the windows on the Nativity façade are red and yellow which then allow orange light to shine through to represent birth. These aspects of the natural world are used by Gaudi in his architecture to give the impression that we are in a natural space.
The Sagrada Familia’s appearance reflects the importance of the natural world and brings us closer to the origin which is nature itself. When approaching the Basilica from the outside, you feel overwhelmed by the monumental scale of the construction and the details of the façade. This building gives an instant impression about it’s function, as a place of worship, glorifying something higher and sublime.
~I have used my own photos.
Sources:
https://theculturetrip.com/europe/spain/articles/15-amazing-facts-you-need-to-know-about-la-sagrada-familia/
https://blog.sagradafamilia.org/en/divulgation/stained-glass-windows-how-they-were-created/
https://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/en/gaudi/sagrada-familia.htmlhttps://time.com/sagrada-familia-barcelona/
ETCHING :) . Trying out etching was great and I learnt a lot. It was a long process and I think that the prints could have perhaps turned out better, I was happy with some but I think that the acid ate into some of them a bit too much. However, overall it was a great experience and really enriching to learn about a new process!
My work for the Addams family brief. I did some character designs, a pencil portrait of the whole family and then a poster design too :).
My poster of Wednesday Addams is inspired by the painting by George De la Tour ‘Magdalen with smoking flame’. I was inspired by the under lighting in this painting and the darkness with the only source of light visible is the candle. I took some of my own photos of my sister (bottom right of mount board) holding a candle to light up her face in different ways. This gave an eerie and gothic effect. Inspired by George De la Tour and my experimental photos, I created my own poster design for the Addams family show, of Wednesday holding a candle, under-lighting her face. (Oil on Paper). I also created an underlighting effect on the writing too.
My small illustrative piece was inspired by a quote from Morticia from the 1964 Addams family series. She says ‘Life is not all lovely thorns and singing vultures you know’. In my illustration Wednesday is cutting rose heads off of their stems which is something that Morticia does as part of her gardening routine in the Addams family movie.
I enjoyed experimenting with different character designs and creating a board based on the famous and gothic Addams family.
Ceramics workshop. We are making tea pots, mine is inspired by a poppy seed head and I’ve really been enjoying making it. Its been great to learn about ceramics and the rules that apply like not leaving air bubbles in the clay and making sure to score and slip. I added texture to the teapot’s surface with my nails to give it a more natural feel like a poppy seed head. My clay was a bit too thick in some areas which I had to smooth down but overall, it has gone well so far and I like how it looks.
Working on an animation about reconnecting to folklore called ‘The Blooming Heart’. I have used the image of the heart as it has so many connotations to the soul and is often linked to identity and of course life.
painting work in progress.......
My own photos for my Pathway project which were inspired by Charity Henderson’s work. She paints portraits in neutral tones and blurres them out slightly at the edges creating a smudged effect. Some parts of her portraits are in focus and some are completely blurred. I experimented with putting plastic bags in front of the face to made some white highlights and putting tracing paper on the face to smudge features
Lino cut which I am currently working on. Inspired by folk patterns around the world to make one design
Sculpture workshop : Today I cast my sculptures in plaster and after painting them with shellac, I covered them in PVA glue and sprinkled them with copper and oxidized it so that in a few weeks they will go green. This will give an old feel to the sculptures. I am also going to paint some with acrylic paint and some with shoe polish
Joiners for my photography workshop based off of the theme ‘distance forms around our bodies’, inspired by David Hockney’s joiners and the photography of Jingna Zhang. These were done through photoshop, I merged various photos together. I really enjoyed this workshop, I hadn’t done much on photoshop before so this was really new and interesting.