Casa Milà (Barcelona, Spain) : Roof terrace, sculptural chimney with broken glass bottles

Creator:

Gaudi, Antoni, 1852-1926

Published/Created:

Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
1906-1910

Date Depicted:

2008
1900 AD - 1949 AD

Materials:

wrought iron; stone; tile

Notes:

Going far beyond the exuberant use of natural forms in sculpture and wrought-ironwork, which were the hallmarks of Modernisme (the Catalan term for Art Nouveau), Gaudí turned to nature to generate structural form. The Casa Milà (‘La pedrera’) is one of Gaudí’s most important achievements. In this ambitious corner project, his approach to the creation of a new architectural organism was unencumbered by any existing work, and the curvilinear planning of the floors around magnificent patio spaces was possible from the outset. Again drawing inspiration from nature, Gaudí presented a rock-face of fluid, curvilinear forms to the street; openings appear to be carved out of the stonework in rounded forms with deep overhangs, giving rise to the building’s nickname ‘the quarry’. The tiled roof follows the rise and fall of the superstructure of the attic storey as it spans spaces of varying widths on the floors below. The result is a heaving roofscape, and on this stands a fantastic family of chimneys and ventilators sculpted in twisted, faceted, sometimes quasi-figural shapes. The hand-moulded ceilings in the flats, the wrought-iron balustrades and grilles, completed to Gaudí’s designs by Jujol, and the walls of the patios, painted by Alexis Clapes (1850–1920), are among the delights of Modernisme and contribute to the completeness of Gaudí’s most mature secular work.

Variant Titles:

La pedrera

Topics:

Architecture -- Spain -- 20th century -- (YVRC)

Period/Style:

Twentieth century

Culture:

Catalan
Spanish

Accession Number:

1A1-GA-CM-G23

Genre:

apartment houses (AAT)
architecture (AAT)

Format:

Image

Content Type:

Sculptures, Models, & Architecture

Rights:

Copyright Scott Gilchrist, Archivision, Inc
The use of this image may be subject to the copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) or to site license or other rights management terms and conditions. The person using the image is liable for any infringement.

Access Restrictions:

Yale Community Only

Digital:

abstraction; architecture; botanical; decorative arts Art Nouveau; Twentieth century buildings; dwellings; multiple dwellings; apartment houses

Source Creator:

Gilchrist, Scott

Source Title:

Archivision Addition Module Five

Source Created:

2878 Chamonix, Montreal QC
Archivision, Inc.
2008

Source Note:

Purchase, Visual Resources Collection, May, 2011; photographer Scott Gilchrist

Yale Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Digital Collection:

Visual Resources Collection

Local Record Number:

4090

OID:

10051608

PID:

digcoll:1787015