HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE – III

ART NOUVEAU
• CASA MILA

• SAGRADA FAMILIA
 ART NOUVEAU

• CASA MILA
 CASA MILA

• Casa Milà , meaning the 'The Quarry' is a modernist building in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

• It was the last civil work designed by Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, built between the years

1906 and 1910.

• It was commissioned in 1906 by businessman Pere Milà i Camps and his wife Roser Segimon

i Artells.

• Architecturally it is considered structurally innovative, with a self-supporting stone front and

columns, and floors free of load bearing walls.

• Also innovative is the underground garage.

• In 1984 it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.

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DESIGN

• The building is 1,323 m2 per floor on a plot of

1,620 m2.

• Gaudi conceived this house as a constant

curve, both outside and inside, incorporating
multiple solutions of formal geometry and
elements of a naturalistic nature.

• Casa Milà is the result of two buildings, which

are structured around two courtyards that
provide light to the nine levels.

• basement, ground floor, mezzanine, main (or

noble) floor, four upper floors, and an attic.

• The basement was intended to be the garage.

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PLAN-CASA MILA
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TYPICAL FLOOR PLAN-CASA MILA
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ELEVATION-CASA MILA
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DESIGN
• The main floor the residence of the Milàs (a flat
of all 1,323 m2), and the rest distributed over 20
homes for rent.
• The resulting layout is shaped like an
asymmetrical "8" because of the different shape
and size of the courtyards.
• The attic housed the laundry and drying areas,
forming an insulating space for the building and
simultaneously determining the levels of the
roof.
• One of the most significant parts of the building
is the roof, crowned with skylights, staircase
exits, fans, and chimneys.
• All of these elements, constructed with timbre
coated with limestone, broken marble or glass,
have a specific architectural function.
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DESIGN

• The building is a unique entity, where the shape of the exterior continues to the
interior.

• The apartments feature ceilings with plaster reliefs of great dynamism,

handcrafted wooden doors, windows, and furniture, and the design of the
hydraulic pavement and different ornamental elements.

• The stairways were intended for services, in that access to housing was by
elevator except for the noble floor, where Gaudi added a staircase of a particular
configuration.

• Gaudi wanted the people who lived in the flats to all know each other.

• Therefore, there were only lifts on every second floor so people had to
communicate with one another on different floors.
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ATTIC INTERIOR
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• Casa Milà is characterized by its self-supporting stone façade.

• This construction system allows, on one hand, large openings in the facade which give
light to the homes.

• free structuring of the different levels, so that all walls can be demolished without
affecting the stability of the building.

• This allows the owners to change their minds at will and to modify, without problems,
the interior layout of the homes.

• The facade is composed of large blocks of limestone from the Garraf Massif to the
first floor of the quarry Villefranche to the higher levels.

• 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 elliptical beams and girders adopt a constructive solution traditional,
but cylindrical, Gaudi applied an ingenious solution of using two concentric cylindrical
beams stretched radial beams, like the spokes of a bicycle
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• Access is protected by a massive gate iron with a design attributed to Jujol, it was

common for people and cars, where access to the garage in the basement, now in

auditorium.

• The two halls are fully polychrome with paintings oil on plaster surface, showing a

repertoire eclectic references mythology and flowers.

• The attic, where the laundry rooms were located, was a clear room under a Catalan

vault roof supported by 270 parabolic vaults of different heights and spaced by about

80 cm.
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ROOF & CHIMNEYS

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• 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 Gaudi.

• Twenty-eight chimneys in several groupings twisted so that the smoke came out

better, two half-hidden vents whose function is to renew the air in the building.

• The staircases also house the water tanks; some of these are snail-shaped.

• Gaudi, had designed furniture specifically for the main floor.

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SAGRADA FAMILIA
SAGRADA FAMILIA-earlier plan
SAGRADA FAMILIA-developed plan
SAGRADA FAMILIA-sketches
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• The Basílica is a large Roman Catholic church in Barcelona, Catalonia (Spain), designed by

Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi (1852–1926).

• Although incomplete, the church is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

• Construction of Sagrada Familia had commenced in 1882 and Gaudi became involved in

1883.

• The project is a combination of both Gothic and curvilinear Art Nouveau forms.

• The Basilica of the Sagrada Familia was the inspiration of a bookseller, Josep Maria

Bocabella.

• After a visit to the Vatican in 1872, Bocabella returned from Italy with the intention of

building a church inspired by that at Loreto.

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• The present design is based
on reconstructed versions of
the plans that were burned in
a fire as well as on modern
adaptations.
• The style of la Sagrada
Familia is variously likened to
Spanish Late Gothic, Catalan
Modernism and to Art
Nouveau or Catalan
Noucentisme.
• While the Sagrada Familia
falls within the Art Nouveau
period.
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• The Sagrada Familia was planned from the outset to be a cathedral-sized building .

• Its ground-plan has obvious links to earlier Spanish cathedrals.

• Sagrada Familia is short in comparison to its width, and has a great complexity of parts,

which include double aisles, an ambulatory with a chevet of seven apsidal chapels, a

multitude of towers and three portals, each widely different in structure as well as

ornament.

• The plan of this church has an unusual feature: a covered passage which forms a rectangle

enclosing the church and passing through the narthex of each of its three portals.

• Gaudi's original design calls for a total of eighteen spires, representing in ascending order of

height the Twelve Apostles.

• The completion of the spires will make Sagrada Familia the tallest church building in the

world.
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• The Church will have three grand façades: the Nativity

façade to the East, the Passion façade to the West, and
the Glory façade to the South.

• The Nativity façade was the first façade to be

completed. Dedicated to the birth of Jesus, it is
decorated with scenes reminiscent of elements of life.

• Characteristic of Gaudi's naturalistic style, the

sculptures are ornately arranged and decorated with
scenes and images from nature, each a symbol in their
own manner.

• For instance, the three porticos are separated by two

large columns, and at the base of each lies a turtle or a
tortoise.
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• In contrast to the figures of turtles and their
symbolism, two chameleons can be found at
either side of the façade, and are symbolic of
change.

• The façade faces the rising sun to the northeast,

a symbol for the birth of Christ. It is divided into
three porticos, each of which represents a
theological virtue (Hope, Faith and Charity).

• Four towers complete the façade and are each

dedicated to a Saint In contrast to the highly
decorated Nativity Façade, the Passion Façade is
austere, plain and simple, with ample bare
stone, and is carved with harsh straight lines to
resemble the bones of a skeleton.

• Dedicated to the Passion of Christ, the suffering

of Jesus during his crucifixion.
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• Facing the setting sun, indicative and symbolic of the death of Christ, the Passion Façade is

supported by six large and inclined columns, designed to resemble sequoia trunks.

• Above there is a pyramidal pediment, made up of eighteen bone-shaped columns, which

culminate in a large cross with a crown of thorns.

• Each of the four towers is dedicated to an apostle (James, Thomas, Philip, or Bartholomew)

and, like the Nativity Façade, there are three porticos.

• The scenes sculpted into the façade may be divided into three levels, which ascend in an 'S'

form and reproduce the Via Crucis of Christ.

• The lowest level depicts scenes from Jesus' last night before the crucifixion.
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• The largest and most striking of the façades

will be the Glory Façade, on which
construction began in 2002.
• It will be the principal façade and will offer
access to the central nave. Dedicated to the
Celestial Glory of Jesus.
• It represents the road to God: Death, Final
Judgment, and Glory, while Hell is left for
those who deviate from God's will.
• The portico will have seven large columns
dedicated to spiritual gifts.
• At the base of the columns there will be
representations of the Seven Deadly Sins,
and at the top, The Seven Heavenly Virtues.
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• The church plan is that of a Latin cross with five aisles.

• The central nave vaults reach forty-five metres (150 ft) while the side nave vaults reach thirty
metres (100 ft).

• The transept has three aisles.

• The columns are on a 7.5 metre (25 ft) grid.

• The crossing rests on the four central columns of porphyry supporting a great hyperboloid
surrounded by two rings of twelve hyperboloids (currently under construction).

• The central vault reaches sixty metres (200 ft).

• The apse is capped by a hyperboloid vault reaching seventy-five metres (250 ft).
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• There are gaps in the floor of the apse, providing a view down into the crypt below.

• The columns of the interior are a unique Gaudi design.

• Besides branching to support their load, their ever-changing surfaces are the result of the
intersection of various geometric forms.

• The ornamentation is comprehensive and rich, consisting in large part of abstract shapes
which combine smooth curves and jagged points.

• Even detail-level work such as the iron railings for balconies and stairways are full of
curvaceous elaboration.

• The church is a symbolic representation of the life of Christ.

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