New possibilities included a presentation on parametric design and three-dimensional modeling tools that are helping unravel the mysteries of Sagrada Familia–a Barcelona cathedral designed by Antonio Gaudi that has been under construction since 1889. When Gaudi died in 1926 he left a set of 1:10 scale plaster models to document the nave’s design. Most of the models were destroyed in the 1930s.
So that construction can continue, Mark Burry, professor of innovation at RMIT University, Melbourne, is revealing the underlying geometry of Gaudi’s hyperbolic ruled surfaces by using surviving fragments and photos of the models. Finding the missing information "is where parametric design is an incredible tool," said Burry.