The Sagrada Familia in ice is to have five towers eventually, the highest reaching thirty meters. But whoever follows the construction process via Flickr or webcam, saw nothing but four halfway done small towers at the building site. “We’ve tried to inflate the large dome, but that proved harder than expected. A gust of wind unhinged several of the anchors, so first we have to fix some of the anchorages”, says team member and Built Environment student Teun Verberne.

Verberne says it’s “too bad” the team hasn’t been able to start on the largest tower of the basilica yet. The students, supervised by assistant professor Arno Pronk of Built Environment, will now have to focus on the four smaller towers: two of 18 meters, and two of 21 meters in height.

The yellow plastic molds are still knotted halfway, “like a ponytail”, says Verberne. The builders are now hosing the lower part of the molds to form the lower layer of ice. Only if these four smaller towers have a solid base will the molds be inflated further. The first part of the team arrived in Juuka on December 28. There are now over forty builders working on the construction, and another twenty will arrive next week.

Although higher temperatures have been forecast, Verberne doesn’t fear the planned opening of the ice basilica on January 24. “That seems doable.” However, he also acknowledges the challenge of constructing the large tower. “It’s kind of a big deal. And the nave is pretty experimental as well, of course.” The student points at the middle column, which is supposed to form on a frozen rope structure. So far, that setup has only worked in theory; in Finland they’ll find out if it really works.