Jalan Jalan Sepanyol 1: Barcelona Dua

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim

On the same day after the visit to Sagrada Familia, we went to another Gaudi's wonder, the La Pedrera at Carrer de Provenca (the road name). It is open daily from 9am to 8pm. The entrance charge for adult is 10 euro.

La Pedrera was built between 1906 to 1912 for Roser Segimon and Pere Mila. It was originally named as Casa Mila. But, it is famously called the La Pedrera by locals which means 'The Quarry' due to its curvaceous and uneven grey stome facade.

The La Pedrera is actually another unfinished work by Encik Gaudi, initially he wanted to put up some kind of a sculpture of Mary but there was an issue disputed with the owner. What makes the building interesting is the chimneys on the rooftop. I decided not to enter the La Pedrera because I was more interested on getting in to the Casa Batllo. But, oh I wished I did. Because, the rooftop is where the famous sculptural and unique, funny-looking, weird, eerie, i-dont-know-what-else-to-say chimneys are. The chimneys are shaped as such of Salvador Dali kind of artwork of medieval knights with broken tiles.



Undulating wave facade

The grille at the main entrance signifying natural elements, kunun2 macam spiderweb. Suka handle tuhh...



The railing of the balcony was designed as an abstract form, ribbon kind of shape...ye la kot...

One of the chimneys, zoom je dari jauh, tak naik sampai ke atas kan....

The facade is crowned by an inscription is written as, Ave Gratia Plena Dominus Tecum, rasanye bahasa roman kot...

After having few shots of the La Pedrera, we went off to visit wierder looking building, Casa Batllo, located at Passeig de Gracia. Entrance charge is 18.50 euro for adult but lucky for me, as I was about to pay, there was a guy offering me discount coupon, so dapat lah masuk dgn diskaun 2 euro, bayar dalam 16.50 euro gituew...., ok ler...boleh buat beli air....

Some says that the skeletal looking building was supposedly to represent the battlement of St George and the dragon, but for me, I think it looks just....scary.

The Casa Battlo viewed from Passeig de Gracia. Macam tulang2 manusia je kan?

Casa Batllo was built between 1904 to 1907 and it was actually a renovation to an existing building which was built in 1877. Locals nicknamed the house as 'House of Yawns' (sebab banyak tengkorak lekat2 kat dinding - the balconies) or the 'House of bones'.

On its facade, you will notice sprinkles of blue, green, white and brown ceramic tiles while its roof rise to undulating shape shape of dragon scale. What's more interesting is the interior....

The skeletal looking facade, balkoni yang macam tengkorak...

The railings are made of cast iron and painted in ivory white and gold. It does look like a skull kan?

Internally, Encik Gaudi played with naturalist forms whereby he invented inner lighting and ventilation by designing curving and unending lines for its ceiling and wall. Kena tengok gambar baru faham kot kan?. He had even modified the internal courtyard of the existing building to allow better lighting by reforming a large skylight. This internal courtyard has a lift to accommodate its residents.

The main staircase, the side rail was designed to look like backbone.

The main door and the patch of lighting, macam tingkap, tapi bukan tingkap...hehheh

 

Closeup of the backbone

At beginning of the stairs, which indicate the christian beliefs of the holy family.

The main staircase, and the lighting, yang juga bukan tingkap....

Lighting yang kunun2 macam tingkap...bijak brader ni

The window of a room

The fireplace

Perasan tak dinding ada pattern? dan tak ada line, antara siling dan dinding?

This is my favorite lah, the swirl ceiling and its centrepiece light, imagine macam taufan tetiba ada cahaya tengah2?

Ceiling of the main hall

Semua dinding dan siling ada pattern yang sama, maybe untuk tunjuk macam kulit naga kot? ada tak?

Wall light pun sangat cool

The toilet, perghhh...boleh plak jadik sangat moden zaman2 tuh...hebat2.

The floor plan

The internal courtyard, with lift core



The window of one of its rooms

Corridor leading to main staircase on the first floor. Again, lighting yang macam tingkap...

The garden on its first floor

And all the rooms and rear balconies

The external door to the garden, notice the two columns in the middle?

The internal staircase leading to upper rooms

The internal courtyard which is filled with blue ceramic tiles

The skylight

The hyperbolic vault at the attic.

The attic was used to be storage room

Encik Gaudi hantar message ala2 star wars...

The chimneys on its rooftop...with colourful ceramic

The chimneys and the roof which is supposedly look like the dragon

The roof and its bulbous cross

Staircase to the rooftop

Room door

And its door handle?

Window from one of the rooms overlooking internal coutyard for lighting and ventilations

From the staircase to the courtyard thats goes straight up to the attic and its courtyard is filled with blue and white ceramic tiles.

The skylight viewed from ground floor

All these architecture wonders of Encik Gaudi, Ive learned it during my studies in UiTM, in the subject of History of Architecture, masuk exam wooo..., so bila dapat tengok secara live, oh perasaannye seperti...saya patut score! ahahahahhaah....