Part 2: Performance, Time, and Scale

La Sagrada Familia is an artful interaction of light and space, ephemeral and permanent, and scale. On a clear day, the light moves through the stained glass windows. This project is a phenomenon of time and materiality. The way in which the spaces are constructed, materials and light interact with time, and the interaction of the human to the height of the spaces all contribute to the way in which the Sagrada Familia astounds visitors.

            Performance, time, and scale in the Sagrada Familia work together to make this space realized. On multiple levels each of these works, from construction methods to the final inhabited space.

Performance

            The mechanism with which the unique columns and members are sculpted moves back and forth with grace, molding the material into a unique, tree-like form. Here, a tangible presence is created from this technology. The virtual field in the performance is a bit more artistic and subjective. Depending on the time of day and the cloud coverage, the performance of the light dancing on the articulated members astounds visitors.

The members twist and guide your eye up to a colorful, metallic colored crown above the alter. 

Time

            This brings me to time. The literal amount of time that it took to construct this project is visible in the building. A much more romantic measure of time is measured by the light and the visitor’s interaction with the way it projects itself through the space. Time is a virtual field. We are just observing a small portion of it as measured by the light.

Light is a way time is measured in the interior of the space, using the colors of the stained glass windows to articulate the spaces further.

Scale

            Even on cloudy day, visitors to the Sagrada Familia all stop and look up. In reference to the scale, the tangible presence is born out of the virtual field that the space occupies. Impressive both in height and footprint, the space makes the viewer contemplate.

Looking up, it is difficult to place ones self in the space. The viewer feels dwarfed.

In the Sagrada Familia, performance, time, and scale work together to make this space what it is. Without all of the layers of articulation and meaning (materiality, light, construction methods, and form) that exist in this project, the feelings of awe when entering the space would not exist.