Building in Harmony with Nature
Thursday, May 29th, 2014

One of the most famous architects in history is Antoni Gaudi, a Spanish Catalan whose projects still stand today in Barcelona, Spain.
A primary focus of Gaudi’s throughout his career was to study the intricacies and constructions of nature, and then model his designs after the patterns he found in the natural world.
The structural integrity found in Gaudi’s designs impresses architects even today. His most famous work, the
Sagrada Familia Basilica in Barcelona, is the still incomplete culmination of Gaudi’s life’s work.
Antoni Gaudi, like Leonardo DaVinci and other masters of the arts before him, observed the workings of nature when designing new projects. For example, he noticed that structures designed naturally – trees, tendons, and grass – were not rigid and straight, but rather sinewy and more fluid in their construction.

Following his now famous phrase, “originality consists in returning to the origin,” Gaudi constructed the pillars and roof of his famous basilica to follow the design of trees and their branches.
Famous for his precise geometrical studies, Gaudi used such shapes as the hyperboloid, seen in the shape of trees, and the catenary curve, which can be noted in a spider’s web.
He designed windows using the shape and strong structure found in a honeycomb, and projected the parabolic arch found in a natural beehive to great effect in many of his works.
At the time, Gaudi was considered a bit of an eccentric genius, but the strength of his structures and his mastery of organic geometrical forms cannot be denied.

In modern architecture, art, and design, using nature’s forms as inspiration is known as biomimicry. Biomimicry was the principle applied when designing the wings of airplanes, Velcro, and the tread on tires.
Some houses are built in such a way that ivy is allowed to grow over the home, giving it a natural protection from wind and water damage by absorbing water. Other homes are built in or among trees, using the trees as part of the structural support of the building.Homes today can be built using the principle of biomimicry as well, with architects following the designs of nature.
McCamy Construction can help you on your way to enjoying a custom-designed, sustainable home.
Contact us today for a personalized consultation.
Tags: Antoni Gaudí, Design