A short talk · Barcelona

Let gravity
draw.

How Antoni Gaudí designed his arches upside down.

Step one

Hang a chain.

It finds its own curve
Step two

Now turn it upside down.

“As hangs the flexible line, so but inverted will stand the rigid arch.”Robert Hooke, 1675

Colònia Güell, 1898 to 1908

A whole church, hanging.

Strings and small bags of lead shot. He photographed the model, then turned the photo over.

He drew the rules.
Gravity drew the shape.

Set the constraints. Let the system find the form.

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