La Pedrera (Casa Mila) is the most innovative building of Gaudi, both for structural design and for decorative elements.
History
In 1905, Pere Milà and Roser Segimon married. Attracted by the fame of Passeig de Gràcia, they purchased a detached house with garden situated on a plot measuring 1,835 square metres and they commissioned the architect Antoni Gaudi to build their new property. The main floor of this new building, Casa Mila, was to be their home and they would rent out the other apartments.
Museum
This building is now open to visitors and presents the architect’s entire oeuvre. A total of 4,500 square metres can be visited, distributed across five floors: the Roof-terrace, the Espai Gaudi (in the attic), the Pedrera Apartment, the Passeig de Gràcia and Carrer de Provença courtyards and the main floor (the former residence of the Milàs and now the temporary exhibition rooms).
It is possible to view an apartment that reveals the building from a two-fold perspective: its architecture and its habitability. Situated on the fourth floor above the Milà’s residence, this apartment gives us insights into the way a bourgeois family in Barcelona lived in the early decades of the 20th century, recreating their home by using domestic furnishings and household utensils and equipment of the era.
Rooftop
The highlight La Pedrera is without a doubt the roof. The roof not only seals the building against the elements but also reveals three of Gaudi’s concerns: insulation, lighting and ventilation. The roof follows the scheme used at the Palau Güell and Casa Batlló.
La Pedrera
Passeig de Gràcia, 92
08008 Barcelona
Spain
T: +34 932 142 576
www.lapedrera.com
