Gaudí's chimneys, from the laboratory to the shop window

TarragonaA group of researchers from the Rovira i Virgili University of Tarragona were on the roof of the Palau Güell, on Carrer Nou de la Rambla in Barcelona, and noticed the twenty chimneys that crown this Antoni Gaudí building, recognized by Unesco as a World Heritage Site. Observing them, the question arose. Do they work or are they just ornamental? "It could be that they were just for show or a way to boast," explains Albert Samper, professor at the Higher Technical School of Architecture, who recalls that chimneys were a status symbol, as it implied that buildings that had them had heating, a luxury that at the end of the 19th century only the wealthy classes could afford. But it could also be that the chimneys responded to their main function and were capable of extracting smoke. Gaudí did not write anywhere whether the original chimneys could actually work.

To solve the mystery, the researchers had to make perfect replicas of the chimneys because, by no means, could they test the building, which has a high degree of protection. The team, made up of mechanical, computer, and mathematics engineers and led by architects, got to work. "We digitized them with the utmost precision and made a prototype," explains Samper, an expert in Gaudí's geometry. In the laboratory, they carried out the relevant tests and placed them in the URV wind tunnel to analyze the aerodynamic parameters. They concluded that, in effect, they were capable of evacuating air or smoke and, furthermore, were capable of protecting the smoke duct from rain and preventing drafts from entering inside. Based on their draft capacity, they were divided into three groups.

Touch Gaudí

With the mystery already solved, but with the prototypes on the table, new ideas emerged. "Gaudí is universal, but he is not extrapolable to everyone," explains Samper, so he decided to try to "bring his work closer to people who do not have access to it." Thanks to an agreement with ONCE, they took advantage of the replicas to organize workshops that allow blind people to touch Gaudí's chimneys. This project has been carried out together with the University of Alcalá de Henares, the UNED of the Balearic Islands, and the Círcle de Belles Arts of Mallorca.

The experience with the chimneys continued to advance and even spurred the creation of the company Scandraw, specialized in the digitization of architectural heritage and driven by Albert Samper and David Moreno themselves, from the Department of Mechanical Engineering at URV. Finally, the project has just taken a new step, after a Barcelona-based company, It Brings Art SL, contacted the researchers to use the chimney models to manufacture large-scale replicas. And the three models of the Palau Güell chimneys can now be found in stores. "We started with research, there has been knowledge transfer, we have created a spin-off, we have contributed social content to it, and we have turned it into a product that will have a new social impact," explains Samper.

The expert on Gaudí's work celebrates that technology has opened the door to "new techniques" that allow us to continue learning about the working methods of the great modernist architect.