The catenary arch is the stablest of all arches since " the thrust passes down through the legs and is absorbed in the foundations, whereas in other arches, the pressure tends to force the legs apart . " This makes it an " inverted weighted catenary ."
32.
Catenary arches in works like the Casa Mil? the Teresian College, the crypt of the Col�nia G�ell and the Sagrada Fam�lia allowed Gaud?to add an element of great strength to his structures, given that the catenary distributes the weight it regularly carries evenly, being affected only by self-canceling tangential forces.
33.
The buildings consist of a stable, covered longeing ring and porter's lodge : the stable has a rectangular base and catenary arches; the longeing ring has a square base with a hyperboloid dome; the porter's lodge consists of three small buildings, the central one being polygonal with a hyperbolic dome, and the other two smaller and cubic.
