Architectural Misconduct 2 - Antoni Gaudi
Antoni Gaudi is the most famous Catalan architect, well known for the Art Nouveau style. His best-known project is The Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, which he began in 1883 and worked on almost exclusively for the last 12 years of his life. It is still unfinished.
Gaudi was born in 1852 in Barcelona, and was chronically ill as a child. His rheumatism gave him an isolated and contemplative temperament. Early exposure to nature later inspired his biomimetic forms. He dabbled in utopian socialism as a student, even proposing turning a monastery into a political co-op. This is contrasted by his later turn to extreme religiosity, due to back-to-back deaths of his brother and mother. He also possibly had his one known romantic interest reject him at roughly this time, although his niece said he never looked at women. He was a lifelong bachelor after this event.
He became more reclusive and fanatical as he aged, adopting vegetarianism and prolonged fasts as regular practice, culminating in nearly dying due to a fast gone wrong in 1894. He was a radical Catalanist, and was arrested in 1924 for refusing to speak Spanish to police. He was once clubbed during a pro-Catalan demonstration. His political views bled into aesthetics, often incorporating nationalist motifs in his works.
His fanaticism eventually caused his appearance to deteriorate to the point that when he was hit by a streetcar on his way to confession in 1926, no one recognized him or helped, since he was mistaken as a vagrant and died a few days later in a charity hospital. By this point he was already living inside the ongoing construction site of La Sagrada Familia, wholly dedicated to its construction. During the Spanish Civil War in 1936, anarchists set fire to the workshop, destroying many of the original models and plans made by Gaudi. This is part of the reason construction is still continuing, as modern designers have to reconstruct intentions from fragments and guesswork. He was declared venerable by Pope Francis in 2025, meaning he is one miracle short from being a Saint.
In short: Sickly child caused obsession with nature. Strong politics which turned into extreme Catholicism after familial tragedy. Likely Celibate. Almost a Saint. Was struck by a tram and wasn't recognized due to giving up all creature comforts in the name of the Cathedral (which is unfinished to this day, 143 years later)