Barcelona, part three: Gaudí’s Casa Mila!

The widow Rose Segimon, heir to a vast fortune amassed by her first husband in the American colonies, remarried Pere Milá, an important Barcelona businessman.  The wealthy couple wanted to build a residence in Passeig de Gracia, so they hired the most expensive and famous architect at the time — Antoni Gaudí.  The construction took place from 1906 until 1912, and resulted in a monumental building, and also caused disagreements between the architect and the Mila family.   It was the last residential building that Gaudí ever worked on.

Like his Casa Battló, La Pedrera (or Casa Mila) is organic and skeletal feeling.  The imposing, undulating facade of  Casa Mila suggests the life and movement of the stone.  The rails on the balconies were made by the artist Jujol, who used the first one as a model, which was designed and cast by Gaudí.  There are cast iron doors that cover the entrance like a spiders’ web (I couldn’t get a good photo due to the foot traffic).

The structure of the builing is an open plan, an architectural solution with which the building is supported by columns, freeing the stone facade from the weight.  In the entrance lobby, Gaudí used the courtyard as the central axis of the building.  Like an inverted keel of a boat, the series of overhead arches in brick support the weight of the great terrace roof.

The building’s roof recreates a suggestive world where chimneys and ventilation ducts are transformed into disturbing anthromorphic shapes.

The roof of Casa Mila synthesizes and perfects the treatment that Gaudí gave to all of the crowning elements throughout the work.