Editing Casa Milà (section)

=== Constructive and decorative items ===
==== Facade ====
The facade is composed of large blocks of [[limestone]] from the [[Garraf Massif]] on the first floor and from the [[Villefranche-de-Conflent|Villefranche]] quarry for the higher levels. The blocks were cut to follow the plot of the projection of the model, then raised to their location and adjusted to align in a continuous curve to the pieces around them.

The windows of La Pedrera are an integral part of the overall facade design. Gaudí made sure that the windows were of varying sizes, designed to optimize the amount of natural light that could enter the building.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dosde.com/discover/en/la-pedrera-casa-mila/|title=La Pedrera|website=Dosde /|access-date=2023-05-21}}</ref>

Viewed from the outside the building has three parts: the main body of the six-storey blocks with winding stone floors, two floors set a block back with a different curve, similar to waves,  a smoother texture and whiter color, and with small holes that look like [[embrasure]]s, and finally the body of the roof.<ref name=permanyer>[[#permanyer|Permanyer, 1996....pàg. 150–166]]</ref>

Gaudí's original facade had some of its lower-level ironwork removed. In 1928, the tailor Mosella opened the first store in La Pedrera, and he eliminated the bars. This did not concern anyone, because in the middle of twentieth century, wrought ironwork had little importance. The ironwork was lost until a few years later, when Americans donated one of them to the [[Museum of Modern Art in New York|MoMa]], where it is on display.

With restoration initiatives launched in 1987, the facade was rejoined to some pieces of stone that had fallen. In order to respect the fidelity of the original, material was obtained from the Villefranche quarry, even though by then it was no longer operating.<ref Name=huertas/>

==== Hall and courtyards ====
The building uses a completely original solution to solve the issue of a lobby being too closed and dark. Its open and airy courtyards provide a place of transit and are directly visible to those accessing the building. There are two patios on the side of the Passeig de Gracia and of the street Provence.

;Patios
[[File:Staircase - Patio of Casa Milà - Barcelona 2014.jpg|thumb|right|240px|The patio]]
Patios, structurally, are key as supporting loads of interior facades. The floor of the courtyard is supported by pillars of [[cast iron]]. In the courtyard, there are traditional elliptical beams and girders but Gaudí applied an ingenious solution of using two concentric cylindrical beams with stretched radial beams, like the spokes of a bicycle. They form a point outside of the beam to two points above and below, making the function of the central girder a [[Keystone (architecture)|keystone]] and working in tension and compression simultaneously. This supported structure is twelve feet in diameter and is considered "the soul of the building" with a clear resemblance to Gothic crypts. The centerpiece was built in a shipyard by Josep Maria Carandell who copied a steering wheel, interpreting Gaudí's intent as to represent the helm of the ship of life.

;Interior, gates
[[File:Front gate - Casa Milà - Barcelona 2014.jpg|thumb|left|240px|Paintings cover the walls, with access protected by a giant iron gate]]
Access is protected by a massive [[iron]] gate with a design attributed to Jujol. It was originally used by both people and cars, as access to the garage is in the basement, now an [[auditorium]].

The two halls are fully polychrome with oil paintings on the plaster surfaces, with [[eclecticism|eclectic]] references to [[mythology]] and flowers.

During construction there was a problem including a basement as a garage for cars, the new invention that was thrilling the bourgeois at the time. The future neighbor Felix Anthony Meadows, owner of Industrial Linera, requested a change because his [[Rolls-Royce Motor Cars|Rolls-Royce]] could not access it. Gaudí agreed to remove a pillar on the ramp that led into the garage so that Felix, who was establishing sales and factory in Parets del Vallès, could go to both places with his car from La Pedrera.<ref Name=huertas/>

For the floors of Casa Milà, Gaudí used a model of [[floor]] forms of square timbers with two colors, and the hydraulic pavement hexagonal pieces of blue and sea motifs that had originally been designed for the Batllo house. The wax was designed in gray by John Bertrand under the supervision of Gaudí who "touched up with their own fingers," in the words of the manufacturer Josep Bay.<ref name=bayo20>[[#bayo|Bassegoda, 2003....pàg. 20]]</ref>

==== Loft ====
[[File:Attic of Casa Milà.jpg|thumb|right|150px|The attic]]
Like in [[Casa Batlló]], Gaudí shows the application of the [[catenary arch]] as a support structure for the roof, a form which he had already used shortly after graduating in the wood frameworks of [[Mataró]]'s cooperative known as "L'Obrera Mataronense." In this case, Gaudí used the Catalan technique of [[Catalan vault|timbrel]], imported from [[Italy]] in the fourteenth century.

The attic, where the laundry rooms were located, was a clear room under a [[Catalan vault]] roof supported by 270 [[parabolic vault]]s of different heights and spaced by about 80&nbsp;cm. The roof resembles both the ribs of a huge animal and a palm, giving the roof-deck a very unconventional shape similar to a landscape of hills and valleys. The shape and location of the courtyards makes the arches higher when the space is narrowed and lower when the space expands.

The builder Bayó explained its construction: "First the face of a wide wall was filled with mortar and plastered. Then Canaleta indicated the opening of each arch and Bayó put a nail at each starting point of the arch at the top of the wall. From these nails was dangled a chain so that the lowest point coincided with the deflection of the arch. Then the profile displayed on the wall by the chain was drawn and on this profile the carpenter marked and placed the corresponding centering, and the timbrel vault was started with three rows of plane bricks. Gaudí wanted to add a longitudinal axis of bricks connecting all vaults at their keystones".

==== Roof and chimneys ====
[[File:Barcelona Part Deux - 42 (3466892400).jpg|thumb|left|240px|''Casa Milà'' roof architecture, chimneys known as ''espanta bruixes'' ([[witch]] scarers)<ref>{{cite book| author = Fodor's| title = Fodor's Barcelona|edition=2nd | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=GEvmlfNtqFoC&pg=PA85| date = 2008| publisher = Fodor's Travel Publications| page = 85 | isbn = 9781400019038}}</ref>]]
The work of Gaudí on the rooftop of La Pedrera brought his experience at [[Palau Güell]] together with solutions that were clearly more innovative&nbsp;– this time creating shapes and volumes with more body, more prominence, and less polychromasia.<ref name="Permanyer, either 1996 or 2008">https://www.permanyer.com/345438/{{Dead link|date=December 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

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, two half-hidden vents whose function is to renew the air in the building, and four domes that discharged to the facade. The staircases also house the water tanks; some of which are snail-shaped.

The stepped roof of La Pedrera, called "the garden of warriors" by the poet [[Pere Gimferrer]] because the chimneys appear to be protecting the skylights, has undergone a radical restoration, removing chimneys added in interventions after Gaudí, television antennas, and other elements that degraded the space. The restoration brought back the splendor to the chimneys and the skylights that were covered with fragments of [[marble]] and broken Valencia tiles. One of the chimneys was topped with glass pieces&nbsp;– it was said that Gaudí did that the day after the inauguration of the building, taking advantage of the empty bottles from the party. It was restored with the bases of champagne bottles from the early twentieth century. The repair work has enabled the restoration of the original impact of the overhangs made of stone from [[Ulldecona]] with fragments of tiles. This whole set is more colorful than the facade, although here the creamy tones are dominant.<ref name=ruta>[http://www.rutadelmodernisme.com/default.aspx?idioma=ca&contenido=body_rutamodernisme_04.htm Ruta del Modernisme] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200227083819/http://www.rutadelmodernisme.com/default.aspx?idioma=ca&contenido=body_rutamodernisme_04.htm |date=2020-02-27 }}. Ajuntament de Barcelona</ref>

==== Furniture ====
[[File:Gaudi p1.jpg|thumb|left|180px|The building's inside decor (pictured in 2005) has been changed several times, both paint and furniture]]
[[File:Barcelona i el modernisme.jpg|thumb|right|240px|Furniture in 2008]]
Gaudí, as he had done in Casa Batlló, designed furniture specifically for the main floor. This was part of the concept artwork itself integral to [[modernism]] in which the architect assumed responsibility for global issues such as the structure and the facade, as well as every detail of the decor, designing furniture and accessories such as lamps, planters, floors or ceilings.

This was another point of friction with Segimon, who complained that there was no straight wall to place her Steinway piano.<ref name = orchards>{{cite book | title=La Pedrera: arquitectura i història | publisher=Caixa de Catalunya | author=Flores, Carlos | year=1999 | pages=187–224 | isbn=978-84-87135-35-4}}</ref> Gaudí's response was blunt: "So play the violin."<ref name=patrimoni/> The result of these disagreements has been the loss of the decorative legacy of Gaudí, as most of the furniture was removed due to climate change and the changes she made to the main floor when Gaudí died. Some remain in private collections, including a curtain made of [[oak]] 4 m. long by 1.96 m. high in the Museum of Catalan Modernism; and a chair and desktop of Milà.{{citation needed|date=January 2017}}

Gaudí carved oak doors similar to what he had done for the Casa y Bardes, but these were only included on two floors as when Segimon discovered the price, she decided there would be no more at that quality.<ref name=bayo20/>