In The Essential Gaudí, we embark on a fascinating quest to discover the geometrical concepts which impregnate the Church of the Sagrada Família. Based on documents and models which survived the 1936 fire, Jordi Bonet, present director of architecture and coordinator of work on the church, describes the research carried out with the aim of discovering the paths Gaudí himself would have taken. ?Finding the key, the secret, the architectural laws governing the building and harmoniously continuing what had already been completed required exhaustive research work and the gradual building up of the overall idea behind the work. All this led to the final discovery of a geometric modulation embracing the entire architecture of the church, repeated in each and every one of its parts: unit, half, two thirds... Gaudí takes nature as his model and, through a unique and brilliant geometric theory, builds a church in which, just as in nature itself, there is no place for discontinuity. ?Jordi Bonet i Armengol (Barcelona, 1925) has been director of architecture and coordinator of work on the Church of the Sagrada Família since 1985. A Doctor of Architecture, he has been awarded the City of Barcelona prize for his restoration of the Fundació Enciclopèdia Catalana building, the St. George Cross from the Autonomous Government of Catalonia and, for this book, the Institut d'Estudis Catalans' Domènech i Montaner award. Bonet, the architect behind many of his own works, is a leading expert on the architecture of Antoni Gaudí. Currently the president of the Reial Acadèmia Catalana de Belles Arts de Sant Jordi, Jordi Bonet i Armengol has given lectures all over the world. His published works include L'Arquitectura al servei de la Música (1986) i Temple de la Sagrada Família (1992).
