DARIA VINOGRADOVA INTERIOR DESIGN & ART

Casa Milà, Antoni Gaudí’s work

At the very beginning of the 20th century, the architect Gaudí foresaw a free layout, natural ventilation and a garage, while creating a project for the Milà House, an amazingly beautiful project that was ahead of its time!

The construction system of the Milà House is based on stone supports, solid brick and metal rafters, eliminating the need for a load-bearing façade. It made it possible to make extraordinary large openings for the access of light and air, as well as, ahead of its time, the possibility of a free layout. Gaudí’s architecture is a different space and dimension. The facade of the building seems to be in constant motion: the lines merge into one another. They look like rocks against which sea waves beat, and forged elements look like algae. And also all these are caves and sandstorms on the roof of the house. Unreal twisted columns and towers. No straight lines or sharp corners. An abstract style in architecture or a perfect imitation of nature. Seeing a beautiful majestic building, enjoying the architecture is one thing. But observing it … looking at it for a long time … That is for the first time in my life! I am so thrilled about Gaudí’s work. In reality, his projects are amazing: they astonish, excite and bewitch.

“… The corners will disappear, and matter will generously appear in its astral roundness: the sun will penetrate here from all four sides and the image of paradise will appear… so, my palace will become brighter than the light,” Gaudi said about his work… Casa Milà is an extraordinary building!

Would you walk on the rooftop of La Pedrera? By the way, the local residents saw it as something mysterious and even alien … And the film director George Lucas, inspired by the chimneys, took them for the models of soldier costumes in the Star Wars franchise.

If you enter the building itself, you can see the historical interior and its details. The project was planned with a large number of bathrooms in case the house was converted into a hotel. At the same time, the bathrooms are quite spacious. And what pleasant shades are used in the decoration! In general, smooth lines, wavy shapes, natural materials, lack of symmetry, soft colors, as close as possible to natural, plant and marine patterns are the distinctive features of the Art Nouveau style, which was most popular at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. And here, climbing the stairs, we do not find straight lines: everything flows smoothly into each other. The details in the decoration of the house are also interesting. Gaudí, even while creating door handles, made the most of their ergonomics and closeness to nature. He squeezed a plastic piece of material in his palm, leaving a handle that exactly repeats the shape of a human hand.

The layout of the apartment is arranged in an enfilade way, that is, we enter the premises that are sequentially adjacent to each other. We go to the dining room, then enter the living room, bedroom, and so on. This can usually be seen in palaces.

The photo shows a small kitchen and a utility room where servants worked. The nursery, kitchen and servants’ quarters were placed in one wing, and the living room, study and other premises in the other.