Author(s)

J. Tomlow

Abstract

A ghost image of the Colonia Guell church by Antoni Gaudi J. Tomlow Hochschule Zittau/Gorlitz (FH), Fachbereich Bauwesen, Germany Abstract Antoni Gaudi’s hanging model for the Colonia Guell church design is a prominent example of working with the Laws of Nature. Departing from the reconstructed image of the unfinished church, a segment reconstruction is presented, to be built on a natural left site with pine trees near the original Colonia Giiell crypt. A skeleton-like structure represents the eight major pillars of the church. The branched pillars and connecting arches demonstrate to the public on a light platform the main features of an organic space. Original basalt trunks are carefully integrated. The proposed pillar structure consists of a steel core with ceramic surface and threefold steel-wired arches are left visible between spaced ceramic elements. The whole is stabilized by cables; all is reversible. The author (with Graefe, Otto, Walz) contributed in 1982 to the reconstruction of Gaudi’s hanging model and documented this in his thesis \“the model”[5]. The design of \“Ghost Image”, interpreting a proposal by Cheryl and Emerson Martlage, was developed in 200 1 together with students and assistants. This contribution is dedicated to Cheryl and Emerson Martlage 1 Introduction Antoni Gaudi (1852- 1926), the universal architect of Catalan origin, impressed the architectural world. He applied a hanging model for his design of Colonia Guell Church (1998-1908), thus generalizing the statical principle of the inversion of the catenary, which generates an optimal arch shape. Gaudi researchers, gaudinists, living 150 years after Gaudi’s birth, posess an admiration which happens to be mixed with a sense of distance to the historic and living personality. The gap between his spirit and the gaudinists seemed wide. His visionary architecture was theoretically reconstructed, or interpreted, or

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