Catenary arch

Kit to build a 180 mm wooden catenary arch and learn about the construction of Antoni Gaudí.

If we hold a chain at both ends, a curve is formed. If instead of looking down we look up this would be a catenary arch. Antoni Gaudí calculated how many of his emblematic buildings should be with the catenary arch that allows them to support much more weight than the rest of the arches. To see how it would look, he hung threads from the ceiling and put sandbags as counterweights that simulated the weight of the cathedral. The threads arch into catenary-shaped curves. With a mirror underneath, he inverted the image and the catenary arches appeared as they should have been to support the weight he had assumed with the sandbags.