components of stone (which come from
different quarries around the world in
an effort to match the polychrome stone
that, in Gaudí’s time, came from Barce-
lona’s own Montjuïc hill, on its southern
edge) and steel are prepared elsewhere. In
northwestern Spain, for example, blocks
of stone are precision-cut by computer,
before a guy with a massive hammer
slams the surface to create the textured
exterior. “There’s a symbiosis of high-
tech and traditional artisanship in every
component,” says Fernando Villa, the
Sagrada Familia’s director of operations.
“The process of bringing them together is
modeled on an automobile assembly line.
Everything is done just in time.”
So far, about 400 of the panels have
been completed, loaded onto a truck
bound for Barcelona and hoisted into
place on the Sagrada Familia’s ever evolv-
ing roof. But if the technical challenges
have been largely resolved, the social and
political ones are proving a bit thornier.
When work first began on the Sagrada
Familia, the temple was surrounded by
empty land that had not yet been incorpo-
rated into Barcelona. That led Gaudí to de-
sign the temple’s main facade, dedicated
to the glory of God, with a huge narthex
that would extend from the southern ter-
minus of the nave down a grand staircase
to a park below. But today, the busy Calle
Mallorca runs through the planned por-
tico, and apartment buildings stand where
the staircase and park are meant to go.
The city government had not yet taken
a stand on how to resolve the issue, largely
because it’s been too busy figuring out
how to get the construction itself legal-
ized. “It was always rumored that Sa-
grada Familia had never registered for the
proper building permits,” says Janet Sanz,
deputy mayor for the environment, urban
planning and transportation. “When I
took office, I asked my team to look into it,
and we saw that for more than 130 years,
they had been building without a license.”
That finally changed on June 7. Sanz
made a point of requiring the foundation
not only to acquire the proper permits,
but also to compensate the city for the ef-fects of a century’s construction. The Sa-
grada Familia’s own board seemed eager
to rectify the situation as well, and, in
addition to acquiring the permits and
paying construction taxes amounting to
€4.6 million, they agreed to pay an addi-
tional €36 million over the next decade to
cover the costs of everything from secu-
rity to building a metro entrance that di-
rects tourists into the church, rather than
aboveground.
But the agreement doesn’t address
the facade-size elephant in the room. “I
know that Sagrada Familia would like it
if we kicked everybody out and razed the
buildings on Calle Mallorca,” says Sanz.
“But it’s not that simple. We’re already
in moment of tourist saturation. How do
we guarantee that the neighborhood isn’t
converted into one giant souvenir stand?
How do we keep traffic flowing? And
when we already have a shortage, is de-
stroying more housing the best solution?”
Both parties seem content to kick the
decision down the road. Which is why
every month, 150 or so residents—of the
estimated 3,000 who could be evicted—
march along the southern edge of the
church bearing placards showing apart-^
From their studio inside one of the
Sagrada Familia’s spires, architects
oversee every aspect of the design