Antoni Gaudí: See the Fantastical World the Catalan Architect Never Built

Ever wonder what works by Antoni Gaudí might look like if they were designed today? Ariadna Giménez, a visual designer based in Spain, has. And thanks to the power of AI, she—and her 120,000 followers—are finally able to get a peek into this never-built, fantastical world. “I was going through a difficult time, so I found an escape,” she says about the genesis of her project, which she shares on the Instagram page @gaudism.ai.

Gaudí, best known as the architect of the Sagrada Familia, was a pioneering force behind Catalan modernism. Inspired by Oriental art and influenced by the Gothic revival, his work is often defined by bright colors, fluid forms, and acute ornamentation. To see what this might look like in the present day, Giménez, who is just 23 years old,  turned to the AI tool Midjourney, which has become popular in recent months, especially on Instagram. (The program works by generating images from text prompts input by users.)

“I was very interested to see how this tool could visualize my ideas, so I started experimenting with it, and Gaudism was born,” she says. While passionate about the Spanish architect, she also cites Isamu Noguchi, the American sculptor who was fascinated by caves, as an inspiration. Below, AD chats with Giménez about her work, Gaudí, and the impact of AI on the design community.