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Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

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71–80 of 341 posts

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#71

I feel like the only person in the world who was thoroughly underwhelmed by it and really don’t see how its future space requirements for a staircase can be justified. This isn’t me trying to be edgy, I like cathedrals, this one (and his general style) just left me cold. Duomo in Milan was far better imo.

I liked other cathedrals better, too, but I got a lot out of it by contrasting the medieval versions with this. I mean, you got a lot of the same motivations, just with different art styles and materials. Reflecting on that, it made me change the way I view older churches.

Granted, the LOTR of Lothlorien helped, too (I only saw the Sagrada Familia in 2022). To past generations, "Gothic" means something quite different, as we see it in our current context, with darkened fronts and comparisons to buildings that allow even more glass. But back then it was all light and organic. The SF seems to go in the same direction, but unhindered by medieval masonry and mathematics.

Then again, I also like brutalist churches...

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As someone from Barcelona, I really wanna see it finished completely. Those apartments had an expiration date the moment they were built in the 60s. Everyone who bought them at a discount knew that they were going to be torn down when the temple itself was finished. I feel it's like those people that buy a house near an airport, they pay pennies for it, and then start lobbying the government for a change in air traff…

Exactly. Nimbyism at its finest: all gains are mine; all losses should be covered. It's bizarre that at the same time, real estate investors think all value increases are rightfully theirs, but they should be protected from any decrease in value. You can hardly call it 'investing' if you're protected from the downsides.

I don't oppose destruction of housing because of people losing their investment - expropriate it for all I care. But reducing the housing supply is bad for everyone. That's the important problem with nimbyism: it's not that it demands unfair advantages for homeowners as investors, it's that it prevents development that is needed for a better world.

There's definitely an argument to be made that globally iconic feats of architecture have intrinsic value that's more important than a bit of housing. But you do need to account for the social impact of aggravating housing scarcity to make that argument.

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#73
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern Architecture is ludicrous. We build and build depressing neighborhoods in cities for us to all flee to historical centres to experience beauty for a minute. I mean if you are in the US you are lost anyway, but the Europe has some beautiful cities (Amsterdam, Venice, Palma, Rome, Vienna the list continues), but none of them are modern. The citizens should be helped to find replacement, but please let's put some…

Ironically the Sagrada Familia is an example of modern architecture.

It was modern at the time, same as Art Nouveau and Art Deco, but then those were (unfortunately) pushed aside by Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and post-WW2 concrete brutalist architecture.

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#74
Probably 50% of the construction is based on the project by Gaudì, which was lost.

It's almost completely a contemporary project.

https://hyperallergic.com/152158/has-gaudis-sagrada-familia-...

https://sagradafamilia.barcelona-tickets.com/sagrada-familia...

"Spanish Civil War: In 1936, during the civil unrest, anarchists broke into the cathedral and stole the plans, and destroyed the church's crypt. Work only resumed after the unrest ended in 1939. The informational remains were pieced together to make Sagrada Familia what it is today."

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#75
Here's a really cool article I read a while back on using computers and geometry to finish Gaudi's work:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gilfranco-Alves/publica...

It's interesting using computational tools to finish something in spirit, that started long before their mainstreaming.

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#76

Looking at the surrounding building of the Sagrada, just makes me wonder again, what the hell happened to modern architecture. Modern architecture has destroyed our cities. It's hard to find a building build after WO2 that's actually pretty, let alone an entire neighborhood. Nothing compared the historic cities of Europe. In a time when it's cheaper then ever to build, they've not been able to build anything even clo…

It is much cheaper to build McMansions, etc

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#77
post #29

Is this one of the longest running construction projects of all time?

Cathedrals (or technically in this case, a church) being built over decades or centuries is pretty common! This might be one of the quicker ones.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_Cathedral took six centuries, although they started and stopped a few times.

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#78

It won't. Gaudí's plan was to build a big staircase in front of it creating a new public square next to the temple, replacing some apartment buildings currently being used. Gaudí's project won't be finished until then. There's some pushback from the neighbors because finishing it all means bulldozing hundreds of apartments, although those apartments were bought at a discounted price decades ago because everyone knew…

I read that and saw a lot of other articles about this controversial stairway, but I haven’t been able to find any actually plans or renderings about what it would look like, particularly in context to the existing neighborhood. Do you know of any?

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#79
post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Modern Architecture is ludicrous. We build and build depressing neighborhoods in cities for us to all flee to historical centres to experience beauty for a minute. I mean if you are in the US you are lost anyway, but the Europe has some beautiful cities (Amsterdam, Venice, Palma, Rome, Vienna the list continues), but none of them are modern. The citizens should be helped to find replacement, but please let's put some…

Ironically the Sagrada Familia is an example of modern architecture.

I mean, it lacks most of the defining characteristics of modern architecture. It is highly ornate, for one. I would not put it in the category of modern, aside from describing the time period which it came to be. Art noveau seems more appropriate a description.

Re: Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

#80

Looking at the surrounding building of the Sagrada, just makes me wonder again, what the hell happened to modern architecture. Modern architecture has destroyed our cities. It's hard to find a building build after WO2 that's actually pretty, let alone an entire neighborhood. Nothing compared the historic cities of Europe. In a time when it's cheaper then ever to build, they've not been able to build anything even clo…

The purpose of most buildings is to be useful, not to look pretty in pictures. > Modern architecture has destroyed our cities. It's hard to find a building build after WO2 that's actually pretty That's because the things that get preserved are the things that are pretty. You think Romans built their outhouses and warehouses and cheap apartments to look like the colosseum? No, that shit was ugly too, that's why it's n…

> The purpose of most buildings is to be useful, not to look pretty in pictures.

I'd say that's their stated purpose, not their inherent one. Beauty is only useless to those who choose to believe so.

If you're not convinced, I recommend Roger Scruton's "Why Beauty Matters"

https://vimeo.com/549715999

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