Heir to a Legend

Antoni Gaudi’s great unfinished masterpiece – the Sagrada Familia Cathedral in Barcelona – is finally nearing completion, under the steady hand of NZ architect Mark Burry. Work on the epic scale building effectively ended with Gaudi’s death in 1926. In 1979, while still an architecture student, Burry visited the cathedral and met its aging project directors. One interview later, Burry was heading the restoration project. “When you look at [the Sagrada Familia] as a whole,” says Burry, “you realise that [Gaudi is] probably an exceptional architect, one of a handful of brilliant architects whose work is future-proof.” The cathedral’s interior is expected to be open to the public by 2008, but the exterior will not be completed until the centenary of Gaudi’s death in 20 years time.