Principles and Elements

The Sagrada Famillia has many different design components when it comes to the principles and elements of design.  The church is a very tall and organically shaped building that is placed in an urban setting.  The interior of the building is balanced with the exterior using the same materials and creates a harmony among the design.  The pillars are creating lines from the floor to the ceiling for the eyes to follow when inspecting the tall tower with the circle shaped window at the top in the center.  This building also uses color to emphasize the statue of Jesus in the center with an object like a shade covering it.  There is also little natural light entering the church and that causes the building to be very dark and cast many shadows.

Connections

How the space is built in the interior, and exterior can form a strong connection and balance in the structure.  This connection comes from materials and light in the space.  Both the interior and exterior are made of mostly stone and uses windows to let light into the space.  The windows are stained glass and connect to the meaning of the catholic church and tell a story.  The exterior being made of stone creates a connection to the inside and allows for consistency and balance in the structure.

Materials

The Sagrada Famillia is made almost entirely of one material on the exterior and interior which is stone.  This material was highly sought after when the original construction of the building was started in 1882.  The statues surrounding the building are stone carved and are spread across the entirety of the church.  Stone and glass are the two main materials used to create a balance in the structure and are used to sow the complexity of the catholic church itself.

Light and Color

In this catholic church there are minimal colors and light fixtures used.  The main source of light is through the stained-glass windows around the structure as well as the large circular skylight at the center of one of the towers.  The minimal light into the church creates unique shadows and a darkness in the space which is unique to catholic churches of its time.  The stained glass can be used to tell a story inside the church’s beliefs and to add color to the fully stone building.

Experiences

The human experience in the Sagrada Famillia is about the church and the religion being exemplified in the interior and exterior of the structure.  The statues represent the religious aspects of the building and why people go to visit the structure and experiences the meaning behind the church.  This church is expected to be the largest church building in the world and represent many different things like a forest because of the forest like structure.

Theories

Theories are in every design.  In this specific structure there are a few specific theories that fit.  The Lois Wienthals theory is most prominent in this building because the center of the design is the human experience in the space.  The theory then broadens to the statues and their significance to the space and the deeper meaning to the shape of the structure and where it is placed in its city.  A theory that would be more difficult to explain this structure would be the sense of place theory because the building is gigantic compared to the other buildings surrounding it in the city of Barcelona.

Technology

The church has been built over many different centuries of time which caused a change in design overtime because of new inspirations for the design.  As time went on old challenges were combated with new ideas or technologies that were established to make it easier to build.  Over the centuries this church has been built the inspiration has changed and has been exaggerated in different ways than the past which is seen in the older drawings of the building compared to the newer building plans.

 Finishes

With only one material throughout the exterior and interior of this building the finishes of this material can be different.  The statues, pillars, and walls of the building can be smooth or have texture attached to the material.  The stone is easily manipulated which can create diversity in the finishes of the stone on the building.  The statues tend to have more smooth and texturized aspects to them while the walls are fully textured, and that texture is from the ground up on the building to create balance.

Furnishings

This building is meant as a tourist attraction which means the furnishing inside are limited.  The church itself is very open and does not have normal seating or places for people to inhabit.  The building has standing areas to view the artworks likes statues and artifacts from the beginning of the catholic church’s construction.  While this building is mainly for tourists, the church holds mass for visitors every Sunday at 9 am where there are seats provided for people to sit and listen.

Telling Stories

Around the facade of the Sagrada Famillia there are statues telling a story from the bible.  These statues are designed to tell a story of what the building was designed for.  In this case the building is used as a church and the statues represent biblical stories that span over long periods of time.  When visiting the structure people can look at the statues and understand what story the designer is trying to display based on their knowledge of the story’s themselves.