Architect Antonio Gaudi blended the movements known as Art Nouveau and Neo-Gothic. Gaudi himself considered architecture to be a living sculpture and he sought to create what he named the "Mediterranean Gothic." Taking the classic elements of Greek architecture, the characteristics of Gothic cathedrals, and the decorative nature motives of the Romantic movement, he worked to adapt architecture to the Mediterranean climate. Gaudi is described as "the architect who perhaps more than any other in the nineteenth century recognized the lost structural principles of the Gothic, who recovered and re-stressed them for the architecture of today and tomorrow, and at the same time brought back an interest in the associational and imaginative factors of architectural expression.".
Gaudi was born in Reus in 1852, and he was the son of a coppersmith. He attended the School of Architecture in Barcelona from 1874 till 1878. Gaudi spent his entire life in Barcelona. He was very stubborn, and didn't care about what others thought. At first people rejected his work, but then they learned to love it, and when he died, many mourned his death.
Gaudi's designs integrated sculptural elements, perhaps because he often used three-dimensional models rather than relying only upon two-dimensional drawings. He is remembered for using ornate ironwork, curved and warped surfaces, textured tiles and building materials, and mosaics. Perhaps Gaudi's greatest achievement was the development of the "slanted" column to replace the flying buttresses used in Gothic and Romanesque cathedrals. His columns leaned on a slight angle and branched at the top to further support the ceiling stresses of the tall and open buildings. He studied the angles and curves of natural structures--such as trees--to find solutions for stress support problems that had impeded architects for centuries. .
Using the helicoids, hyperbolas, and parabolas he noted in nature, Gaudi experimented on scale models, performing calculations to produce columns, vaults, and arches that allowed a taller ceiling height with a more open floor area.
