Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia will be completed in 2026

cnn.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

221–230 of 341 posts

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

#221

Post by ido »

audunw wrote: post #137
wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #48

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…

What happened is that a vast quantity of people moved into and around the cities. We also have more strict building codes that take into account light, air quality, longevity, energy effiency etc. You’re looking at an old city built for a relatively small elite over many hundreds of years, and you’re surprised why cities built for many millions of people over a few decade look a bit basic in comparison? I came across…

I just came back from San Francisco and plenty of post WW2 buildings there (mostly high rises) look nice.

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

#222

Post by distances »

rsynnott wrote: post #205
wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #48

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…

I used to work in a Georgian building. I'll take the ugly 70s concrete block I work in nowadays any day. It's _extremely_ difficult to adapt a lot of these old forms to functional, comfortable housing and offices. There are exceptions, but practicality is a big part of the change. You're also seeing a certain amount of survivor bias in many cities; the old buildings that are still around are the ones that someone tho…

We don't have to go that far back in time, European cities have loads of beautiful buildings still from early 1900s. For example whole neighborhoods of Jugendstil apartment buildings that mainly housed working class people moving to cities. New construction in these same neighborhoods simply do not match the beauty of the existing housing stock. And early 1900s housing is usually quite nice if it's been at least slightly renovated (double glazing etc).

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

#223

Post by anon291 »

pmontra wrote: post #91
anon291 wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's also why St Peters is not the cathedral of Rome. It's not in Rome.

It's been not in Rome only since Vatican City came into existence in 1929. It's been in Rome every single year before then. Saint John Lateran is also not in Italy [1] due to an extraterritoriality treaty in 1929, part of the same treaty that established Vatican City. By the way, that church is exactly 1700 years old this year. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archbasilica_of_Saint_John_Lat...

I should have said it's why it can't become the cathedral of rome.

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

#224

Post by lucianbr »

diggan wrote: post #23
overview wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s referring to the collaboration on the design itself.

Even that isn't true. Lots of original models/drawings have been lost, new designers interpret or reconstruct what they think Gaudi wanted to do, based on incomplete plans or where decisions weren't fully made. Not to mention new materials are available today that are being used and new processes/workflows which change the results slightly too. Sagrada Familia isn't a 100% implementation of the original vision, as ev…

Buzzword bingo isn't restricted to software. The statement just says "Gaudi was a great architect". But it sounds more impressive to talk about "posthumous collaboration", especially if you don't analyze it.

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

#225

Post by skinner927 »

netbioserror wrote: post #163
alistairSH wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Be careful to avoid survivorship bias here. Only the "best" buildings from Medieval and Renaissance times (or even later into the 1800s) are still around. Many of the buildings we constructed in the second half of the 20th century will be gone in 100 years or so. Also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I know there was a lot of criticism when the Louvre built the pyramid, but I quite like the contrast of traditio…

You must not travel a lot. There are huge numbers of historic villages and towns with original or very old architecture. If we were dealing with survivorship bias, we should expect essentially random buildings scattered around cities, not entire towns or contiguous historic districts.

You may want to double check that the historic buildings you see in historic districts are actually, uhh, historic. Historic building codes have been around for hundreds of years in some areas and many of the buildings are rebuilds and ones that didn’t fit the mold have been rebuilt.

Not that modern concrete architecture is not a blight on our cities, but not all historic buildings were originally as charming as we may see them today.

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

#226

Post by lucianbr »

simonbarker87 wrote: post #26

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 didn't know about it before visiting it, and when I was there, I was surprised to realise that they have charged me admission into a construction zone.

Also, it was nice, but I have no clue what the adulation in this thread is about. It's just a huge church with a lot of stone and colored glass.

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

#227

Post by leononame »

cmpalmer52 wrote: post #18
jihadjihad wrote: post #5

It's amazing if you haven't gone, especially when sunlight streams in through the windows. I saw a quote while I was there that was something along the lines of, "Gaudí is not an artist with whom posthumous collaboration is possible." A couple minutes walking around the church is all that's needed to confirm that notion.

I’m not particularly religious and not Catholic, but the Sagrada Familia brought me to tears. The interior is one of the most beautiful man-made spaces I’ve ever seen.

Same for me. It took me completely by surprise, but as soon as I stepped inside, I started to cry. I don't like it that much from the outside (though I don't mind it either and appreciate it's unique style in contrast to a lot of people that seem to hate it) but on the inside, it really is amazing. I'd visit Barcelona just for the Sagrada Familia

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

#228

Post by AlanYx »

Tabular-Iceberg wrote: post #195
simonklitj wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is an interesting comment to me! How do you define secular-looking? Is it a lack of some particular design element?

It simply lacks Catholic design elements. The stained glass is a jumble of nonsense, not even a nice pattern like the Muslims do, and I suppose there is an altar and a crucifix in there somewhere, but they drown in all the visual clutter, like they’re ashamed of it. It’s possible, even likely, that the pictures don’t do it justice, so I will take a look in person at some point, but I don’t have high hopes.

There's a rhyme and reason to the stained glass that's tied into the other symbolic elements embedded in the architecture. For example, the color scheme shifts as you pan from the nativity side through to the passion side. The lower panels are not totally abstract; there are vague shapes that sort of remind you of figures, flames, etc. but then it tends to pivot towards full geometric abstraction as you raise your head.

Like the Mezquita in Córdoba, it's hard to get a sense of how intensely all the combined elements make an impression just from photographs.

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

#229

Post by javier_e06 »

wouldbecouldbe wrote: post #48

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…

I agree. Kids watch Harry Potter and dream about Hogwarts and their school pretty much looks like a prison without the barbwire and guard towers. They don't play in the woods but on a asphalt blacktop or a square of grass. Sad.
Post reply on HN