Antoni Gaudi

Architect Antoni Gaudi known for the Sagrada Familia was born in Catalonia in Spain on June 25, 1852. Antoni Gaudi showed interest in architecture from when he was still young. This led him to start studying architecture in Barcelona in 1870.

The Mature Artist

During his early period in 1878, Gaudi was graduated from the Provincial School of Architecture. During that time, Antoni Gaudi has displayed a showcase of some of his work including the 'Guell Estate' and the 'Guell Palace'.

In 1883, Antoni Gaudi was being in charge with the construction of the Barcelona Cathedral also known as the 'Basilica i Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia' (Basilica and Expiatory of the Holy Family). The plans have been drawn up earlier by other designers but Antoni Gaudi has completely changed the design, coming up with his own style.

Gaudi also experimented with various historic styles including - the Episcopal Palace (1887-1893) and the Casa de los Botines (1892-1894), both Gothic, and the Casa Calvet (1898-19014) which was done in Baroque style.

After 1902, Antoni Gaudi's designs began to defineconventional style which he created a type of structure known as equilibrated - that is, it could stand on its own without internal bracing etc. The primary functional elements of this system were columns. Gaudi has used this equilibrated system to construct two Barcelona apartment buildings - the Casa Batllo (1904-1906) and the Casa Mila (1905-1910). Both buildings are considered to be characteristic of Gaudi's style.

After 1910, Antoni Gaudi has abandoned nearly all his other works to focus on the Sagrada Familia which the work has begun in 1883. Antoni Gaudi died while still working on the Sagrada Familia on June 10, 1926 in Barcelona, Spain.

While the structure remained unfinished at his death in 1926 - only one transept from four was built. The extraordinary structure has a completion target date of 2026 which remarks Antoni Gaudi 100th anniversary from his death.