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International Journal of Architectural Heritage, 00: 1Ð11, 2015

Copyright © Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 1558-3058 print / 1558-3066 online

DOI: 10.1080/15583058.2013.834089

The Trencadis Mosaic on the Pinnacles of the Sagrada

Familia Cathedral

Júlia Gómez-Ramió, Sergio Cavalaro, and Antonio Aguado Q1 Universitat PolitËcnica de Catalunya, Department of Construction Engineering, Barcelona, Spain The architect Antoni Gaudí developed a unique constructive5 solution for the pinnacles that crown his last work, the Sagrada Familia. It consisted of fashioning the nishing components from precast pieces of lightly reinforced concrete that was covered with a trencadis mosaic of Murano glass. With this solution, GaudÌ invented a singular coating material that responded to the spe-10 cial ambient conditions of a construction at great height, keeping esthetic and decorative aspects in mind. Those who have continued plete the new pinnacles and in the decoration of other parts of the cathedral. The main objective of this study is to explain the concep-15 tion and the constructive logic of the Sagrada Familia pinnacles, as well as its evolution since the beginning of the 20th century. For coating in his earlier works is presented. Likewise, the reasons that led the architect to select a unique glass imported from Italy for the20 trencadis on the temple pinnacles are revealed. KeywordsSagrada Familia, trencadis, pinnacles, Murano glass, coating

1. INTRODUCTION

The architect Antoni Gaud" understood architecture as a25 complete universe and poured all his creativity and rationality into even the smallest details. The pinnacles of the Sagrada Familia are a good example of that. The architect designed a unique constructive solution in these elegant spires that responded to the special ambient conditions of a construction30 at great height, keeping esthetic and decorative aspects in mind. The pinnacles of the Sagrada Familia were constructed with lightly reinforced precast concrete covered in the same manu- facturing process with a trencadis of opaque glass, especially imported from the Murano Islands (Venice). Gaudí had applied35 the exterior trencadis coating in many of his works with a great variety of materials and techniques, turning it into one

Received May 22, 2013; accepted August 8, 2013.

Address correspondence to Júlia Gómez-Ramió, Department of Construction Engineering, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Edifici C1, Campus Nord UPC, Jordi Girona 1-3, 08034 Barcelona,

Spain. E-mail:julia.gomez@upc.edu

of his most distinctive hallmarks. However, none of these had achieved such heights as the Sagrada Familia. The definition of its finishing touches was a challenge for the architect. This led 40 to a solution unseen in his previous work. A solution in which he applied much of his constructive, geometric, and material experience gained throughout his professional career. Inaugurated on November 30, 1925, the tower of the Nativity facade that rises up almost 100 meters to its peak is dedicated to 45 Saint Barnabas (Figure 1a). This pinnacle was the first and only of the Sagrada Familia project that Gaudí would see to com- pletion. Since his death up until the present day, this unique construction system using precast elements with a trencadis coating of Murano glass is still applied for the construction of 50 new pinnacles (Figure 1b) and decoration of other parts of the

Cathedral.

Given the uniqueness of these elements and their construc- tive system, the main objective of this paper is to explain the conception and theconstructive rationale of the Sagrada Familia 55 pinnacles, as well as its evolution over time. To do so, a review the way in which Gaudí applied the trencadis coating in this earlier works is presented. Likewise, the reasons that led the architect to select a unique glass imported from Italy for the trencadis facing on the temple pinnacles are revealed.60 Once the design motifs that Gaudí applied to the pinnacles are discussed, the evolution of their on-site construction from the first pinnacle of Saint Barnabas until the most recent works of the Japanese sculptor, Etsuro Sotoo is analyzed. This analysis is done by dividing the work of the Sagrada Familia into three 65 historical stages. The earliest of them (1915-1930) covers the life of Gaudí and the construction of the Nativity facade pinna- cles. The second (1952-1978) includes the construction of the pinnacles of the Passion facade by the direct disciples of Gaudí. Finally, the most recent covers the period up until the present 70 day (1985-2012).

2. TRENCADIS IN GAUDÍ'S WORK: THE COATING

AND PRECAST ELEMENTS

In his student days, Antoni Gaud" felt an attraction for orien- tal architecture while looking through collections of books and 75 photographs in the library of theEscuela de Arquitectura de 1

2J. GÓMEZ-RAMIÓ ET AL.

FIG. 1. (a) Nativity façade in 1926 and (b) new pinnacles of Sagrada Familia in 2012. © J. Bonet. Reproduced by permission of J. Bonet. Permission to reuse must be obtained from the rightsholder.Q10 Barcelona, the Architectural School of Barcelona (Bergós and Llimargas1999; Martinell1967). Very probably influenced by these styles, he had dedicated special attention to exterior dec- orative ceramics ever since his first works. Examples may be80 found in his earliest works such as theCasa Vicens(1883-1888) (Figure 2a)ortheCapricho(1883-1885), where he covered the building facades with rectangular patterns of polychrome enameled ceramics. In 1884, the young architect designed an innovative coat-85 ing for the dome of thePicadorand the chimneys of the porter's lodge at theFinca Güell(Bassegoda Nonell et al.1984) as shown inFigure 2b. The technique, popularly known as trencadis, consisted of breaking the enameled ceramic pieces into small polygonal fragments that were applied in a unique90 FIG. 2. (a) Facade of the Casa Vicens and (b) chimneys of the porter's lodge at the Finca Güell. © (a) J. Bergós and (b) J. Bassegoda Nonell. Reproduced by permission of © (a) J. Bergós and (b) J. Bassegoda Nonell. Permission to reuse must be obtained from the rightsholder.Q11 mosaic of different tonalities over a lime mortar base. This tech- nique permitted the adaptation of rectangular pieces available on the market to the ruled surfaces of his works and the use of practically all the pieces since they were broken. Given his interest in geometry and oriental culture, some authors have 95 established a link between his designs and the centuries-old ceramic work ofzelligeorzillijmosaics (Bassegoda Nonell et al.1984). Later on, the architect returned to this technique in the Palau Güell(1886-1890), for the coating on the chimney and 100 lantern-dome that decorates the roof of the palace. In these structures, Gaudí also began experimenting with the trencadis technique, using other materials such as marble, glass, stone (Figure 3a) and refractory bricks from the inner lining of lime ovens (González Moreno-Navarro1993).105 The successive works of the architect, such as thePalacio Episcopal de Astorga(1883-1893),Casa de los Botines (1885-1892) or theColegio de los Teresianas(1888-1890) are characterized by their eclecticism, with a particularly dis- crete use of decorative ceramics. However, Gaudí once again 110 employed a "mosaic stone", similar to the roof of thePalau G¸ellmentioned above, at the beginning of the 20th cen- tury, such as theParque Güell(1900-1905) and theCasa Bellesguard(1900-1909). In these cases, Gaudi took the tech- nique a step further, developing a constructive system of 115 precast elements with this material. Such technique was applied between 1901 and 1903 in the construction of various elements for the viaducts and retaining walls ofParque Güell(Paricio

1981), as shown inFigure 3b.

The success obtained led to the implementation of a con- 120 struction site atBellesguard(1900-1909) where various facade elements were prepared such as lintels, jambs and different FIG. 3. (a) Dome-lantern of Palau Güell and (b) precast colonnade supporting a retaining wall over a walkway in Parque Güell. © (a) A. González Moreno- Navarro and (b) J. Bergós. Reproduced by permission of (a) A. González Moreno-Navarro and (b) J. Bergós. Permission to reuse must be obtained from the rightsholder.Q12

TRENCADIS MOSAIC3

types of finishes. According to the literature, the precast pieces in the desired form was made from a clay model. Subsequently,125 the workers placed stones from the local area at the bottom of the mold and filled it with a quick-drying cement mortar. Once hardened, the piece was turned out of its mold and left to dry until it's positioning on the facade (Bassegoda Nonell1989). The trencadis appeared another time in the construction130 phase of the entrance toParque Güell(1903-1905). To do so, two constructive systems were used. First, direct application of the coating was employed for large areas, such as the entrance halls (Figure 4a). Second, the architect used precast elements for the construction of small-scale, repetitive figures, such as135 finishing elements on the entrance wall and coatings on the lat- eral walls of the main staircase (Figure 4b). According to the literature, unlike the on-site work atBellesguard, these precast elements were cast in wooden molds and by positioning three courses of thin brick over the enameled ceramic trencadis that,140 with the addition of mortar, assumed the form of the mold. The first course was covered with a layer of quick-drying cement mortar and the following two with lime mortar. Subsequently, in the rehabilitation work onCasa Batlló (1904-1906), Gaudí once again used the colors of enameled145 ceramic and glass on the exterior coating of his work. In this case, it appeared on a large part of the exterior envelope (facade, roof, and rooftop) and on the shared interior elements (hall and ventilation courtyard). In all the decorative geniality of the work, the new trencadis150 coating placed on the existing facade must be highlighted. In this application, the architect decided to scrape away all the exterior masonry on the original surface to form wavy undula- tions. Then, he designed a fabulous trencadis coating placed on a new layer of lime mortar, with small pieces of colored glass155 and painted ceramic plates (Figure 5a). Notably, according to the former contractor of the work, Gaudí personally directed the decorative design of this facade. The architect stood in the mid- dle of thePaseo de Graciaand indicated to each of the workers FIG. 4. (a) Roof the Parque Güell entrance hall, and (b) precast elements of the side walls of the main stairway. © (a) J. Bergós. Reproduced by permission of (a) J. Bergós. Permission to reuse must be obtained from the rightsholder.Q13 FIG. 5. (a) Detail of the Casa Batlló trencadis facingand (b) roof terrace under construction of the Casa Milà. © (a) J. Bergós and (b) J. Bassegoda Nonell. Reproduced by permission of (a) J. Bergós and (b) J. Bassegoda Nonell. Permission to reuse must be obtained from the rightsholder.Q14 the exact position where the different tonalities of glass would 160 be placed (Bassegoda Nonell1989). Some years later, in another work onPaseodeGraciapopu- larly known asLa Pedrera(1906-1910), the architect returned to the trencadis technique used in thePalau Güell. However, in this case, he exclusively used white marble to cover the ele- 165 ments. As shown inFigure 5b, a layer of lime mortar was spread over the surfaces and thereafter, once the surface was dry, the marbletrencadis wasadhered toitwithasecond layer ofmortar. At the same time of this construction, progress continued on other parts of theParque Güell, such as the Hypostyle 170 Hall (1907-1909) shown inFigure 6a, and its upper square (1907-1914). However, following the completion of these parts, a lack of financing paralyzed Gaudí's idyllic project. Under these circumstances, the optimization of resources in the last part of the work was very important. For this reason, the precast 175 pieces were key elements in its construction. In fact, some authors have referred to its construction as astructural meccano (Paricio1981). Theprecastpieces fromthislastpartoftheParqueGüellpre- sented the same characteristics of the ones used in the entrance. 180 However, for the first timer, they were conceived to have a significant structural responsibility, besides attending aesthetic aspects. As may be observed in the scheme ofFigure 6b,the ceramic beams rest on the pillars of the hall forming a 4×4m grid. Above them, ceramic calottes in the form of small vaults 185 are covered with ceramic tiles. Aware of the bending stresses that those beams had to resist, Gaudí placed two rectangular strips of metal in the form of coils embedded in a layer of mor- tar in its lower section as passive reinforcements (Figure 6b, Sections A-A' and C-C'). These reinforcements were then filled 190 by several courses of ceramic tiles (Martinell1967). It is noteworthy that the same coiled metallic strips also appear in the structural beams of the park entrance halls. In the most recent investigations into Gaudí's knowledge of reinforced concrete, a link has been established between these coiled metal 195 strips and a patent registered in Barcelona during the same period by Habrich (Grima et al.2007).

4J. GÓMEZ-RAMIÓ ET AL.

FIG. 6. (a) Interior of the Hypostyle Hall and (b) structural scheme of slabs in the Hypostyle Hall. © (a) J. Bergós and (b) A. Mañà. Reproduced by permission

Q29

of (a) J. Bergós and (b) F. Mañà. Permission to reuse must be obtained from the rightsholder.Q15

FIG. 7. (a) Parapet at the edge of the upper square of Parque Güell and (b) roof of the entrance porch leading into the crypt of the Colonia Güell (2011). © (a) J. Bergós. Reproduced by permission of J. Bergós. Permission to reuse must be obtained from the rightsholder.Q16 Moreover, precast elements were also used in the construc- tion of the park and covered with trencadis when placed on site. An example of this may be found in the parapet wind-200 ing along the perimeter of the upper square completed between

1910-1913 (Figure 7a). In this case, direct application of the

trencadis is attributed to the need to conceal the joints between the symmetrical pieces that form the parapet. Subsequently, the architect returned to the trencadis tech-205 nique for the external decoration of the windows and for the coating of the roof of the entrance porch, as seen in Figure 7b. In these parts, the trencadis did not follow a ran- dom composition nor was it grouped by color as in his previous works. Instead, the architect broke the rectangular ceramic210 pieces into four triangles, which were then placed in the same direction as the two sets of generating lines that defined the hyperbolic paraboloid roof (González Moreno-Navarro et al.

2002).

Gaudí abandoned the construction inColonia Güelland 215 retired in the last few years of his life to the temple of the Sagrada Familiato develop the project that had accompanied him throughout his professional career. In the Cathedral, the works continued at a good pace thanks to generous donationsquotesdbs_dbs46.pdfusesText_46

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