Engineering Gaudí: a multisensory analysis through sound, light and space

The Inhabiting Gaudí project harnesses the cutting-edge technological infrastructure of the IASlab at La Salle-URL to explore the architectural comfort in Gaudí’s works. Equipped with unique facilities – the anechoic chamber, the reverberation chamber, and the immersive room – the IASlab enables a holistic and integrated approach that combines sound and image to analyze and recreate Gaudí’s spaces. This technological privilege allows not only detailed analysis under controlled conditions but also transforms these findings into experiential and interactive studies.

The anechoic and reverberation chamber will allow us to explore the acoustics of spaces under extreme conditions. In the immersive room, acoustic comfort will converge with architectural recreations with natural light, creating a multisensory representation of the spaces. Simultaneously, the Design Studio will allow us to focus on Gaudí’s pioneering vision of comfort in architecture: spaces designed to achieve harmony between people and their environment, emphasizing sound, light, and temperature efficiency.

Data will be collected in situ at La Pedrera throughout the project, allowing students and researchers to validate the research hypothesis using the IASlab facilities. This approach transforms the technological experience into an immersive study of Gaudí’s architectural comfort. This project bridges technology, science, and architecture to offer a groundbreaking reinterpretation of Gaudí’s legacy.

Learning objectives

To understand the relevance of the sociophysical environment in relation with the architecture narrative and the perception of the person.
To learn from the basic techniques used by the genius architect Gaudí in La Pedrera-Casa Milà to face the challenges in terms of light, ventilation, sound and heat more than 100 years ago.
To approach the concept of soundscape in an emblematic building, to understand it in nowadays language and environment.