Sagrada Familia: Gaudi’s Unfinished Masterpiece Geometry, Construction and Site

Comes within it's own slipcover case for safekeeping. Copyrighted in 2014 and printed 2015-2016 in China. 311 pages with VG to excellent quality photo printing. An interesting and full historical review with many points of interests to appeal to both lay and academia's curiosities. It appears to have value both as an art book and also, a college text. Impressive insights into the extraordinarily complex construction methods with a history on construct details. This, a first edition, which might not be repeated. Prices of used books are far greater than this new offering and therefore likely to go higher in price once new editions are sold out.

This is the most beautiful book I have ever seen. There is no other building on earth like this and the photographs are exquisite. The text is helpful and informative also. Gaudi and the Spanish Church were on the wrong side of history. But Gaudi's work is just transcendental.

This is a beautiful book with wonderful pictures and descriptions of the incredible architecture

The text is excellent, but too few of the photographs were taken after the dramatic stained glass windows were in place. The light inside is now a crucial part of the impact of the space.

Beautiful book the best I've seen on this extraordinary structure.

Best discussion of the basilica I've seen.

I first visited what Catalans in Barcelona call in full name the Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Família (Expiatory Temple of the Holy Family), or just Sagrada Família, in 1973. At the time, there were just the four huge sugarloaf conical towers of the Nativity Facade, pretty much as the architect Antoni Gaudí had left them when he died in 1926. The building was obviously unfinished; a model within showed that this was one of three similar facades, and there were to be as well even taller towers rising to a huge one in the center. There was little work being done on the building when I visited; I remember joking that it was such a peculiar structure that the builders were stalling. When I visited the last time, in 1991, serious construction was underway, with a Passion Facade being constructed, along with interior nave spaces. The building process has continued, and the plan is that it will be all completed in 2026 in commemoration of the centennial of the architect’s death. How I would love to see it then! Until then, there is a gorgeous book documenting a recent exhibit about the structure, Sagrada Família: Gaudí’s Unfinished Masterpiece, Geometry, Construction and Site (Oscar Riera Ojeda Publishers), edited by Mr. Riera Ojeda, with contributions from historians, architects (including some working on the church), engineers, and mathematicians. Best of all, there are pages and pages of photographs, showing the work as it has progressed and as it now stands in all its eccentric glory. It is simply one of the most beautiful and original buildings in the world.Gaudí’s strange shapes were far from arbitrary. “I am a geometrician,” he said, and the catenary forms of the strings would bear him out. When he died in 1926, there were plenty of plaster models (he used those rather than drawings) to show how he intended the church to look. The models were smashed during the Spanish Civil War. Some of the fragments were pieced together, and in the 1990’s, the plaster models were supplemented by computer-aided design, although the original software was sadly feeble when it came to describing Gaudí’s unconventional curves. The many pictures here emphasize how truly original and strange a structure this is. The Sagrada Família represents a reworking of Gothic inspiration into something light, jubilant, and playful. Gaudí was, however, a devoted and almost monkish Catholic, and the form and decoration of the temple show it throughout. Each one of those eighteen spires, for instance, will be there for a reason of symbolism. They are not all in place yet, but the central and tallest will be for Jesus (this will make this the tallest church building in the world), next for the four Evangelists, then for the Virgin, and finally the Twelve Apostles. The three facades will represent the Nativity, the Passion, and the Glory. The surfaces of the spires include multicolored mosaics and inscriptions joyfully spelling out “Excelsis,” “Hosanna,” and “Sanctus.”The chapters here go into detail of the history, architecture, engineering, inspiration, and mathematics of this unique building. With chapters relatively short, and with a host of authors, there is some inevitable repetition, but the book is a welcome examination of many facets of an exuberant, weird, humane, and lovable structure.