I've wanted to see Antoni Gaudí's (1) works for years. My close friend, Siavash Teymouri (2), introduced me to his work over three decades ago.
Gaudí was an eccentric Catalan modernist who challenged the architectural norms of his time. Over 140 years ago, the director of his school famously said, 'We have given this academic title either to a fool or a genius. Time will show." (3)
When for a very first time I saw one of his works, I was mesmerized. He wasn’t just an "architect". I was wondering why his methods aren’t taught in structural engineering schools. I personally could have used them during my college years and later in my professional life.
Gaudí used physics to his advantage, but not just the common equations of force and momentum. He made physics visual.
This is what he did:
He created a 3D model of the structure using strings and weights. He hung bags of sand, proportional to the expected load, from the ceiling. The resulting shape, reflected in a mirror below, provided a 3D visualization of the structure. This methodology allowed him to draw precise lines on paper and calculate the angle of each column. In practice, he used different types of stone to maintain the structural forms without adding excessive weight, considering the actual load.
His master piece is La Sagrada Familia (4), still an unfinished structure.
سال‌ها بود که آرزو داشتم آثار آنتونی گائودی (1) را از نزدیک ببینم. دوست نزدیکم، سیاوش تیموری (2)، بیش از سه دهه پیش مرا با آثار او آشنا کرد
گائودی یک مدرنیست کاتالان عجیب و غریب بود که هنجارهای معماری زمان خود را به چالش کشید. بیش از 140 سال پیش، مدیر مدرسه‌اش به طور معروف گفت: "ما این مدرک آکادمیک را به یک احمق یا یک نابغه داده‌ایم. زمان نشان خواهد داد." (3)
وقتی برای اولین بار یکی از آثار او را دیدم، مجذوب شدم. او فقط یک "معمار" نبود. من تعجب می‌کردم که چرا روش‌های او در مدارس مهندسی سازه تدریس نمی‌شود. من شخصاً می‌توانستم از آن‌ها در دوران دانشگاه و بعداً در زندگی حرفه‌ای‌ام استفاده کنم
گائودی از فیزیک به نفع خود استفاده کرد، اما نه فقط معادلات رایج نیرو و حرکت. او فیزیک را بصری کرد
این کار او بود
او یک مدل سه‌بعدی از سازه را با استفاده از نخ و وزنه ایجاد کرد. او کیسه‌های شن را، متناسب با بار مورد انتظار، از سقف آویزان کرد. شکل حاصل، که در آینه‌ای در زیر منعکس می‌شد، یک تصویر سه‌بعدی از سازه را ارائه می‌داد. این روش به او اجازه داد تا خطوط دقیقی را روی کاغذ بکشد و زاویه هر ستون را محاسبه کند. در عمل، او از انواع مختلف سنگ برای حفظ فرم‌های ساختاری بدون اضافه کردن وزن اضافی، با در نظر گرفتن بار واقعی، استفاده کرد
شاهکار او ساکرادا فامیلیا (4) است که هنوز ساخت آن تمام نشده است
This is how he visualized the structure with ropes and weights:
او با استفاده از طناب و وزنه، ساختار را به این شکل تجسم کرد
آیا او یک نابغه بود یا یک احمق
این متن توسط گوگل ترنسلیت ترجمه شده است و با سبک نوشتاری من مطابقت ندارد. -- بهرام
(c) I personally took these photos and own the rights to them. Please feel free to use them as you wish.
(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoni_Gaud%C3%AD
(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siavash_Teimouri
(3) https://web.archive.org/web/20110929004526/http://www.arts-history.mx/semanario/especial.php?id_nota=22062007173805
(4) https://sagradafamilia.org/
Genius!
ReplyDeleteI’m having a hard time understanding the scale of the sand bags and stings and the mirror below.
ReplyDeleteImagine you have a floor plan and you know exactly where your columns have to be. Draw the plan on a piece of cardboard and hang it from the ceiling. Connect strings to the places that columns are meeting the ground in the cardboard. Each column have a load, but for simplicity imagine all of them bear 10 tons, except for one that has a 1 ton piano on top too. Hang a bag with 10 grams sand to all and 11 grams to the one with piano over it. Continue to the other floors. In each floor add a bag of sand with sand proportional to what the column has to bear at that point. Adjust the length of the strings so that each floor is parallel to the cardboard base. Now you have bunch of strings in many angles and your structure hanging upside down. If you look into a mirror under the hanging structure, you will see the structure as if it is on the ground and standing up right. Now you can draw your structure ground up with all the columns and floors. It will be a self balancing structure with many columns that none are perpendicular to the ground. You will have lengths, angles and the total load on each element. If you want columns to be a different angle you have to distribute the sand in each floor, which in turn will gives you how much load that column will bear, what is the new length and changes the length, load, and angle of other columns. You continue until you are satisfied with shape.
DeleteI might be the only person in the world who didn't appreciate the gaudi's familia sagrada when visited a few years ago, well , myself and George Orwell, so at least two people were not impressed.
ReplyDeletePerhaps, the 3 hours wait in the summer heat and anticipation building up, or breathing the concrete dust in the air once in from the jack hammering in the ceiling over our heads , or the rude staff not letting us take the elevator up before waiting another hour, despite elevators going up half empty , or just being overly impressed with the Gothic architecture in cathedral in Toledo a few days earlier ....
But after reading this very well written blog , I am realizing that I missed seeing so many architectural and engineering details , so willing to give Gaudi another chance ....
If this post only sends one person back to Barcelona to visit one of many places filled with Gaudi art, or even makes you interested to revisit, it has achieved its goal. Thanks.
Delete