WINDOWS OF GAUDĺ

Academic Supervision and Text: Takeshi Yamamura
(Associate Professor, Tokyo Polytechnic University)

ANTONI GAUDÍ 25 June 1852 – 10 June 1926

Portrait of Antoni Gaudí (1878)

Portrait of Antoni Gaudí (1878)

Antoni Gaudí i Cornet (1852–1926) was an architect who made his name working mainly in Barcelona, Spain. Construction still continues on his Sagrada Família, an unfinished church that has drawn the interest of a great many people. As Gaudí’s drawings and models were lost to fire during the Spanish Civil War of 1936, much remains unknown about his design methods. However, it is evident from his known creations—such as his surprisingly ingenious and accurate inverted hanging models that might make one believe he had access to modern-day computers—that his thinking is not at all outdated, and there is much that we can take away from his work today. It is on this basis that this exhibit aims to draw hints for thinking about the future of windows by focusing on the windows that Gaudí designed.

Diverse Windows that Imbue Spaces with Life

Gaudí designed a wide variety of windows. While his buildings are often described as being organic, this is not merely because of their curvilinear walls. Rather, it is because his buildings, though innately immobile, operate vibrantly as though they are animate. While multifunctional and high-performance windows are the norm today, Gaudí carefully studied the elements of nature to create diverse window designs that could give life to his spaces. For this exhibit, we focused on the elements of light, air, and sound.

Light

One of the original functions of windows was to let smoke escape outside. These smoke holes are thought to have evolved as skylights and then daylighting windows. When Gaudí designed his buildings, he gave great care to the windows and light. For example, he positioned windows by taking into account the altitude of the sun (e.g. Cripta Gaudí de la Colonia Güell), angled them to diffuse the light (e.g. Sagrada Família), and used stained glass to illuminate the various rooms (e.g. Casa Batlló). He himself writes: “The essential quality for a work of art is harmony; plastic works are engendered by light, which decorates and creates relief. I suspect that the Latin word décor either means ‘light’ or something closely connected with it, and which expresses clarity.” [1] [2] Perhaps daily life will take on a fresh vibrancy if people recognize that the light that passes through a window does not merely provide brightness but rather accentuates spaces as part of the décor.

[1] Puig Boada, "Temple de la Sagrada Familia" (Barcelona: Barcino, 1929), PB.TSF.-173-03.
[2] Maria Antonietta Crippa, “Living Gaudí: The Architect’s Complete Vision” (New York: Rizzoli, 2002) 104.

Colonia Güell © Takeshi Yamamura

Colonia Güell © Takeshi Yamamura

Casa Batlló © Takeshi Yamamura

Casa Milà © Takeshi Yamamura

Park Güell―Ajuntament de Barcelona © Takeshi Yamamura

Air

The Casa Batlló is an apartment building that Gaudí renovated, and it is designed with wind passages that create comfortable living spaces within the old structure. The small openings in the exterior walls of the main floor serve as windows for drawing fresh air inside, and the interior fittings have windows to allow the air to flow between the rooms. By opening and closing these windows, the residents can create passages for the wind, which flows through the main floor, rises to the roof level by the chimney effect, is sucked into the laundry room through downward-facing windows in the rooftop corridor, and exhausted outside by passing through further windows. The air used to create the comfortable living spaces is thus also utilized for drying clothes. As air flow always has been and always will be an element that enriches people’s lives, Gaudí’s various carefully designed windows undoubtedly hold hints for us to think about how we can make comfortable windows in the future.

Casa Batlló © Triangle Postals

Casa Batlló © Triangle Postals

Casa Batlló © Triangle Postals

Casa Batlló © Takeshi Yamamura

Casa Batlló © Takeshi Yamamura

Sound

Gaudí had an exceptional sense for giving shape not only to things that are visible but also to things that are invisible. The main floor of the Palau Güell functioned as a salon for hosting concerts at times, and this made the acoustics important for the space. There is an anecdote that Count Güell was able to listen to conversations from the floor above by utilizing the acoustics. At the Finca Güell, there is a horse training room where the horses could check their physical condition themselves by listening to the sound of their hooves reverberate inside the dome. At the Sagrada Família, the spires are planned to be fitted with bells. The spires have downward-facing windows so that the sound of the bells will be projected throughout the city of Barcelona. Gaudí, who surely recognized the power that sound and music have to enliven both people and animals, designed windows that give shape even to sounds.

Finca Güell © Masayuki IRIE

Palau Güell © Takeshi Yamamura

COLLABORATION WITH CASA BATTLO

By drawing on the full support of World Heritage Site Casa Batlló and utilizing the latest 3D printing technology, one of the Gaudí-designed building’s distinctive windows will be recreated in the exhibition space at TOKYO MIDTOWN. The miniaturaized 3D recreation of the beautiful three-meter-high window at 40 percent scale, whose upper and lower sections are designed to separately provide views and ventilation, represents an international industry-academia collaboration between YKK AP, the Casa Batlló, the Tokyo Polytechnic University Takeshi Yamamura Laboratory, the Waseda University Kosei Ishida Laboratory, the Maeda Corporation ICI General Center, and the Product Design Center that has been realized amid these challenging times through the use of digital technology. YKK AP envisions a future where the applications of 3D technology in architecture will extend across all phases from site surveys to construction and also play a role in the conservation and restoration of historical monuments.

COLLABORATION WITH CASA BATTLO

COLLABORATION WITH CASA BATTLO

GAUDĺOLOGY WINDOW RESEARCH

Casa Vicens

The Casa Vicens, developed between 1883 and 1885, was Gaudí’s first building. It shows the strong influence of Islamic architecture and the Neo-Mudéjar style that was popular in Madrid at the time. Of particular note are its distinctive flip-up lattice shutters, which are often pointed out as having been influenced by East Asian architecture.

© Casa Vicens Gaudí, Barcelona 2019. David Cardelus photography

© takeshi yamamura

© takeshi yamamura

© Casa Vicens Gaudí, Barcelona 2019. David Cardelus photography

© Casa Vicens Gaudí, Barcelona 2019. David Cardelus photography

© Casa Vicens Gaudí, Barcelona 2017. Pol Viladoms photography

© Casa Vicens Gaudí, Barcelona 2017. Pol Viladoms photography

© Casa Vicens Gaudí, Barcelona 2017. Pol Viladoms photography

Palau Güell

The Palau Güell is the third building that Gaudí was commissioned to design by Count Güell, and it is one of his representative mid-career works. Its exterior features a gate decorated with wrought ironwork, a bay window gallery, and finely louvered windows on the rear façade, while its interior is characterized by a wide variety of carefully designed openings, such as the corridor casement windows—typically used outdoors—that open into the central hall and the mezzanine windows that create further connections with the hall.

Montse Baldomà © Diputació de Barcelona

© Takeshi Yamamura

© Takeshi Yamamura

© Takeshi Yamamura

© Takeshi Yamamura

© Takeshi Yamamura

© Takeshi Yamamura

Casa Batlló

The Casa Batlló is an apartment building that Gaudí remodeled from 1904 to 1906. Its narrow proportions enables all the rooms to be illuminated and ventilated through the effective use of six patios. A wide variety of fittings and openings designed specifically to admit light and air can be found scattered throughout the building.

Casa Batlló © Triangle Postals

Casa Batlló © Triangle Postals

Casa Batlló © takeshi yamamura

Casa Batlló © takeshi yamamura

Casa Batlló © Triangle Postals

Casa Batlló © Triangle Postals

Casa Batlló © Triangle Postals

Casa Batlló © Takeshi Yamamura

Casa Milà

The Casa Milà-La Pedrera is a residential building that Gaudí designed from 1906 to 1912. It is regarded as one of his last works, and it has influenced many artists as well as architects. The free-form façade is made possible by the post-and-beam structure composed of metal beams and steel, stone, and brick columns sized according to need. Its exterior windows are arranged freely to follow the undulations of the façade and do not align from level to level.

Casa Milà © Archivo Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera

Casa Milà © Triangle Postals

Casa Milà © Triangle Postals

Casa Milà © Triangle Postals

Casa Milà © Archivo Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera

Casa Milà © takeshi yamamura

Casa Milà © takeshi yamamura

Casa Milà © Triangle Postals

Project Advice: Dr. Daniel Giralt-Miracle
Photos & Cooperation: The Gaudí Research Institute, Institute of Gaudíology, Triangle Postals, Centre Català de Kansai, Sergi Ruíz i Montserrat, DarTec DD

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