Casa Mila by Rob Shenk is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0
Casa Mila-7 by Dennis Wright is licensed under CC BY-ND 2.0
This week’s crazy building is Casa Milá in Barcelona, Spain.
Also called “La Pedrera” (“The Quarry”), this strange, modernist-style building was the last public work by world-renowned architect Antonio Gaudí. It was built for land developer Pere Milá and his wife. Like Casa Batlló, another of Gaudí’s later works, there are bonelike structures that make Casa Milá look organic and even prehistoric.
Completed in 1910, this building was actually quite controversial at the time. The wavelike stone facade and the harshly twisted iron of the balconies were too much for some people. In fact, Milá’s neighbors refused to speak to him because thought they thought the building would bring down property values!
Casa Milá was not only strange, but architecturally innovative as well. The underground garage was unheard of at the time, and the stone facade is completely self-supporting. Both aesthetically and practically, this building was truly ahead of its time.
To see more of Gaudí’s works check out my posts on Casa Batlló, Casa Vicens, El Capricho, and Sagrada Família.
