When it comes to breath-taking buildings, the Sagrada Familia cathedral in Barcelona, Spain is hard to beat.
But after more than a 100 years, it's still a work in progress and now it's up to a New Zealander to make sure the cathedral is finished.
Melbourne based Mark Burry has had a 25 year love affair with the Sagrada Familia.
"There's the obvious visual appeal, it just lifts you it doesn't matter what your predisposition is or what your mood is," Burry says.
Antoni Gaudi's vision of a church capable of housing 15,000 people was of epic proportions but when the Spanish architect died in 1926 it was never completed.
Work had all but ceased when a young Burry first got involved.
"I was there as a student in 1979, I was collecting work for a thesis and I don't know how it happened but I just found myself being interviewed by this 90-year-old and an 89-year-old," he says.
"They're both co-directors of the building and my questions led them to suggest that I go and work on the building for a while."
But it wasn't easy as there were no detailed plans for the 30 storey cathedral. The site was raided during the civil war, leaving only a few drawings, and some intricate models.
"The models are crucial because they reveal in detail what his (Gaudi's) intentions were," Burry says.
Burry's in Christchurch for a conference on innovation. His aeronautical software has been able to interpret the models and speed up work on the Sagrada.
"There used to b a saying not that long ago that nobody working on it would see it completed in their lifetime, I don't think that's the case anymore," Burry says.
All going to plan the inside is likely to be finished in 2008 and the exterior in time for the centenary of Gaudi's death in 20 years.
