Antonio Gaudí. Casa Milà

LEAD-IN

Exercise 1. Give your point of view on the following:

1. What are the most well-known buildings constructed by Antonio Gaudí?

2. How would you describe Gaudí’s style? Give 8-10 adjectives.

Exercise 2. Read and translate the following words and word combinations:

Quarry, dwelling, bizarre, detached building, secular, bulge, demolish, steep, resemble.

COMPREHENSIVE READING

La Pedrera – “the quarry” – was the name an astounded population gave to this completely unique building. It could be compared with the steep cliff walls in which African tribes build their cave-like dwellings. The wavy faсade, with its large pores, reminds one of an undulating beach of sand, formed, for example, by a receding dune. The honeycombs made by industrious bees might also spring to the mind of the observer viewing the snake-like ups and downs that run through the whole building. In this last secular building which Antonio Gaudí constructed before devoting all his energy to the Sagrada Familia, he created a paradox: an artificial but natural building which was simultaneously a summary of all the forms that he has become famous for. The work of Gaudí on the rooftop of La Pedrera was a collective of his experience at Park Güell, but with solutions that were clearly more innovative – this time creating bizarre chimney stacks.

Casa Milà was built for the married couple Roser Segimon and Pere Milà. The building was completed in December 1910, and in October, 1911 the Milà moved there. The building was sited a few houses away from the Casa Batlló, on the corner of two streets (Passeig de Gràcia and Provence). Gaudí had to depart from the structure he had adopted in in earlier buildings as now he had to work with a corner-house. The surface area, over 10,000 square feet in size, posed a challenge. With a special design for the corner facade Gaudí gave the house the character of a detached building, although it was flanked by the rows of houses on the two streets. He softened the corner until it almost disappeared completely, and the building therefore seems more round than rectangular. Thus, the house arches across two streets. Gaudí took an idea of a rotunda in designing two of the courtyards which had to be large to provide enough light in the building.

Almost every one of his projects involved some innovation, which usually, although with some delay, found its way into Barcelona’s architecture. In the Casa Milà, Gaudí replaced the usual square patios with round court-yards that grew outwards as they moved upstairs. Viewed from above, the building gives impression that these inner court-yards draw everything magically towards them, not just air and light: they are enormous funnels. The slanting walls at the end of these shafts enabled Gaudí to provide an excellent lighting even for the attic. All these ideas are not ornamental in nature but rather serve utterly practical goals. Continually changing waves, bulges and niches create the overall impression of something asymmetrical, something “natural”.

The courtyard

N othing about this house is uniform. The ground-plans for each floor do not resemble one another. Gaudí was only able to create such a highly-varied spatial structure because he designed the building without load-bearing walls. Casa Milà is characterized by its self-supporting stone façade which connects to the internal structure of each floor by means of curved iron beams surrounding the perimeter of each floor. This construction system allows, on one hand, large openings in the facade which give light to the homes, and on the other, free structuring of the different levels, so that all walls can be demolished without affecting the stability of the building. This allows the owners to change their minds at will and to modify, without problems, the interior layout of the homes. The rooms are of different height in keeping with the wavy form of the façade.

C asa Milà consists of two buildings, which are structured around two courtyards that provide light to the nine levels: basement, ground floor, mezzanine, main (or noble) floor, four upper floors, and an attic. The basement was intended to be the garage, the main floor was the residence of the Milàs (a flat of all 1,323 m²), and the rest distributed over 20 homes for rent. The resulting layout is shaped like an asymmetrical “8” because of the different shape and size of the courtyards. The attic housed the laundry and drying areas, forming an insulating space for the building and simultaneously determining the levels of the roof.

One of the most significant parts of the building is the roof, crowned with skylights, staircase exits, fans, and chimneys. All of these elements, constructed with timbrel coated with limestone, broken marble or glass, have a specific architectural function. Nevertheless, they have become real sculptures integrated into the building.

On the rooftop there are six skylights/staircase exits (four of which were covered with broken pottery and some that ended in a double cross typical of Gaudí), twenty-eight chimneys in several groupings, twisted so that the smoke came out better, two half-hidden vents whose function is to renew the air in the building. The staircases also house the water tanks; some of these are snail-shaped. The chimneys and the skylights are covered with fragments of marble and broken Valencia tiles. One of the chimneys is topped with glass pieces – it was said that Gaudí did that the day after the inauguration of the building, taking advantage of the empty bottles from the party. The stepped roof of La Pedrera is called “the garden of warriors” by the poet Pere Gimferrer because the chimneys appear to be protecting the skylights.

The building is a unique entity, where the shape of the exterior continues to the interior. The apartments feature ceilings with plaster reliefs of great dynamism, handcrafted wooden doors, windows, and furniture, and the design of the hydraulic pavement and different ornamental elements.