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Cosmos Gaudi: Architecture, Geometry and Design

Cosmos Gaudi is the designer of the Sagrada Familia that attracts millions of visitor to Barcelona. Now his works are coming to China as a part of the Spanish Year in China.

The son of a coppersmith, Antoni Gaudi was born in Reus, Spain in 1852, and died in a traffic accident in 1926. Over the course of his career, Gaudi developed a sensuous, curving, almost surreal design style which established him as the innovative leader of the Spanish Art Nouveau movement. With little regard for formal order, he juxtaposed unrelated systems and altered established visual order. Gaudi’s characteristically warped form of Gothic architecture drew admiration from other avant-garde artists.

He left 18 copies of great structures to the world such as Parc Guell, Casa Mila, Casa Batlló, Sagrada Familia. Among his works, 17 have been listed as Spanish national-level cultural relics, and three are recognized as World Culture Heritage sites by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

There are 16 collections from Barcelona in the exhibition: 17 furniture copies, five large-scale models, 21 small-scale models and audiovisual facilities to show visitors different sides of Gaudi, to introduce how geometry and design were conveyed in his architecture. Specific geometric designs used in his architecture make people admire his work: disordered beauty is combined with different geometric designs. Complicated decorations convey Gaudi’s love of nature and creativity: all kinds of animals and fruit are evident in his works. People-oriented is another feature of his architecture: there are several kinds of door handles and chairs in exhibition that take people’s comfort and feelings into consideration, while demonstrating Gaudi’s creative genius.

Daniel Giracle, the curator, who is also a researcher of Gaudi and his work, said the “cosmos” is explained as another name of “universe,” but its original meaning in Greek is “order,” and the exhibition want to show the contradiction of order and disorder in Gaudi’s work, and amazing treasure he left to the world