Digital Project. Frank Gehry's Vision

RESEARCH BACKGROUND Digital Project is a three-dimensional software program that enables direct drawing, calculation and generation of all imaginable geometric forms into a computer model. Developed by Frank Gehry's company, Gehry Technologies, the program is inspired by design and construction processes of the aerospace industry. The exhibition featured the design process for the Sagrada Família Church, Barcelona, which draws on similar software to calculate details before building them. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE One featured project in the exhibition was Antoni Gaudi's Sagrada Familia Church, Barcelona. As part of an ongoing involvement with the Sagrada Familia Church, researchers at SIAL led by Professor Mark Burry are investigating Gaudi's final design models for the church. Parametric modelling is used to create designs consistent with all available historical information on the church, gaining new insights into Gaudi's own generative system. The exceptional investigative results are used to specify the actual completion of the church, making the church itself a statement of Gaudi's entirely unique design intent. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE The investigative work on the Sagrada Familia by Burry and his team featured in the exhibition Digital Project: Frank Gehry's Vision at the Danish Architecture Centre, Copenhagen, Denmark, 2007. This ongoing project has received much international press and the findings have been published extensively.