Barcelona’s chief architect, Maria Buhigas, has said the Sagrada Família raises questions about contemporary society, rather than offering simple answers. She argues that the basilica reflects modern contradictions, including the wish for sustainability alongside high consumption.
Buhigas, who rarely describes Antoni Gaudí as a genius, said her favourite Gaudí building is La Pedrera. She praised its design for an Eixample corner, its interior light, comfortable living spaces and the open-plan layout made possible by Gaudí’s approach. She also highlighted the movement he gave to the solid stone exterior.
Her view follows the reading of Gaudí associated with Ignasi de Solà-Morales, and with the architect’s technical training at the Barcelona School of Architecture, where he was an early graduate. Buhigas placed Gaudí in the context of industrial Barcelona, a city expanding beyond its walls with the arrival of electricity and cars.
“Except for Palau Güell, his works respond to this logic, to an architecture necessary for a new city, new centralities, monumental buildings, service buildings, residential buildings, with apartment blocks and not houses,” Buhigas said. “Gaudí seeks his own language.”
Buhigas said she last visited the Sagrada Família before the pandemic, when she climbed the Jesus tower while it was still under construction. She questioned whether the basilica needs to be completed, saying that in the past master builders constructed basilicas over time without a single author being so closely identified.
“Here the authorship of the building is already very referenced, and that generates a question for me,” she said. She also said Barcelona City Council does not prioritise finishing the basilica, and that the impact on Carrer Mallorca from the proposed square and staircase for the Glory façade must be resolved first. “It will be done if the conditions are met and the rights of the people involved are respected,” she said.
This year, architecture has a prominent place in Barcelona through the celebrations for Any Gaudí and Any Cerdà, alongside the city’s role as World Capital of Architecture. Buhigas said the events were separated, with the Ministry of Culture handling Any Gaudí and the capital status focusing on architecture more broadly. For her, the aim is to keep attention on the built environment that shapes daily life, including work by architects whose names are not widely known. More Catalonia news