Nature
Gaudí does not copy trees, mountains or bones. He seeks the laws that allow natural forms to emerge, grow and endure.
The dream,
nature,
architecture.
A journey that began with my 1991 thesis and has never stopped: understanding Gaudí through materials, geometry and construction, distinguishing authentic work from imitation.
Gaudí is not a style to repeat.
He offers a method for questioning nature, trusting materials and turning structural necessity into imagination.
My research began in Barcelona, on the Sagrada Família building site and among the materials of the Càtedra Gaudí. Surveying and photogrammetry, with Gabriele Fangi, were more than measuring tools: they revealed the deep relationship between form, structure and the construction process.
Ever since, I have sought the less obvious Gaudí: not the author of a fantastical repertoire to reproduce, but the architect who builds as nature builds.
Three ways of reading
Form is not imposed.
It is discovered.
Materials
Stone, brick, ceramics and light do not clothe a predetermined form: they participate in its invention and reveal its truth.
Structure
Gravity, geometry and construction coincide. Beauty emerges from balance, not from the outward reproduction of a style.
Photographic atlas
The works,
one by one.
A collection that will grow over time: more than a catalogue of postcards, a reading through details, materials, structure and light. Each photograph can be opened for a closer look.
Works in pictures · 01
Colònia Güell.
A built laboratory.
The first photographic series comes from my archive. The crypt makes Gaudí’s method visible: structure, materials and light are not separate parts, but a single organism.
Photographs from the Paolo Clini archive
A work in pictures · 02
Casa Batlló
Luce, colore e cavità abitabili.
Materials seem to dissolve, yet every curve organises space. Façade, glass, wood and ceramics create a Mediterranean interior where light becomes part of the architecture.
Photographs from the Paolo Clini archive
A work in pictures · 03
Park Güell
La costruzione cresce dal terreno.
Walls, paths and porticoes follow the topography. Stone works like a geological formation; trencadís turns fragments into a continuous, changing surface.
Photographs from the Paolo Clini archive
A work in pictures · 04
Casa Milà · La Pedrera
Una massa scavata dalla luce.
The façade acts like a rocky edge, while courtyards bring air and light into the heart of the building. The envelope does not describe individual floors: it conveys the movement of the whole.
Photographs from the Paolo Clini archive
A work in pictures · 05
Palau Güell
La luce entra come materia.
In the central hall, the perforated dome brings the image of a night sky indoors. Space emerges from a precise orchestration of height, shadow and points of light.
Photographs from the Paolo Clini archive
A work in pictures · 06
Casa Vicens
Geometria, ferro e colore.
In Gaudí’s first major house, geometric rigour meets plant forms. Ceramics give rhythm to the wall; the iron gate translates the palm into construction.
Photographs from the Paolo Clini archive
Critical dossier · 07
Sagrada Família.
First, establish authorship.
Here, the Sagrada Família will be presented only through what can be documented as Gaudí’s work.
The editorial approach
Photographs will show the Nativity façade, the crypt and the parts built under Gaudí’s direction. Later additions may appear only to explain differences critically, never presented as the architect’s own work.
The journey
From thesis to book
1991
My thesis on the Sagrada Família and the questions raised by its continuation opens a lifelong research journey.
Barcelona
Direct work on the building site, materials from the Càtedra Gaudí and discussions with Juan Bassegoda Nonell and the Junta Constructora.
Surveying
Photogrammetry and the campaigns carried out with Gabriele Fangi show how scientific documentation can become critical interpretation.
Today
The publishing project Il sogno che non doveva finire revisits Gaudí beyond hagiography and the spectacular presentation of his work.
A critical position
Continuing a building does not necessarily mean continuing its author’s work.
I do not consider it illegitimate to continue the Sagrada Família. The problem arises when authentic fragments, reconstruction hypotheses and contemporary inventions are presented as a single, unquestionable expression of Gaudí’s intentions.
If stone becomes cladding, reinforced concrete replaces the construction logic and the tree-column remains only a shape, the structural forest risks becoming a scenic forest. Betrayal therefore lies not in the act of building, but in confusing continuation with authenticity.
Book in preparation
Centenary 1926—2026Il sogno che non doveva finire
Gaudí and the true story of the Sagrada Família
A book born from my thesis, documents collected in Barcelona and more than thirty years of study. Rather than a case against the Sagrada Família, it investigates the boundary between Gaudí’s work and what later generations have built in his name.
Articles and insights
Reading Gaudí
TWO COLUMNS, TWO WORLDS: WHERE MY GAUDÍ BEGINS
From Colònia Güell to the Sagrada Família building site: the comparison that has guided my research into material, structure and nature since 1989.
THE WASHERWOMAN OF PARK GÜELL: FROM GAUDÍ TO VITRUVIUS, FROM STONE TO THE DIGNITY OF LABOUR
A woman carrying laundry on her head becomes a column. Her gesture opens a path between Barcelona’s washerwomen, Vitruvius’s caryatids and my reading of Gaudí.
GAUDÍ AND THE HUMAN PLACE IN NATURE
Amid industrial transformation, Gaudí seeks an architecture that can reconnect people with material, light and the living world. A question I still feel is our own.
When stone becomes nature
For Gaudí, nature is not an image to imitate: it is a law that becomes structure, materials and space.
Editorial page
Antoni Gaudí: the dream, nature, architecture
A space for sharing documents, images, studies and new readings. To understand Gaudí, not simply celebrate him.
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