La Pedrera: Gaudí's last civil work and why the terrace is the perfect date with the artist at sunset

What is Casa Milà — La Pedrera and where does it come from?

Casa Milà, popularly known as La Pedrera (the quarry) due to its rocky appearance, was built by Antoni Gaudí between 1906 and 1912 commissioned by Pere Milà and Roser Segimon. It is Gaudí's last civil work - he was later dedicated exclusively to the Sagrada Familia until his death in 1926. The quarry is radically unique in world architecture: it has no a single straight wall. The façade undulates like stone waves. The internal rooms are irregular polygons. The chimneys on the terrace look like helmeted warriors — they later inspired George Lucas for the Star Wars Stormtroopers (verified by Lucas in an interview).

Why go — and what's the purpose of your appointment with the artist?

La Pedrera is the work that teaches the most about break the rules you think are mandatory. Gaudí built a six-story building without a single straight wall at a time when every corner, every door, every window was standardized. If you have been doing things for months because 'they have always been done that way', La Pedrera reminds you that you can not do it that way.

How to take advantage of it (concrete practice)

Book your ticket for the last time slot — 'La Pedrera Night Experience' at dusk. Go up to the terrace. Stay until it gets dark. The chimneys, illuminated, against the violet sky of Barcelona — one of the most useful images you will take with you. Take a notebook. Write what changes when the sun goes down. Then go down to the Espai Gaudí — the attic of the building converted into a museum — and look at the models that show how Gaudí designed without computers or prior plans.

Why this place connects with Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way

The practice of the appointment with the artist that Julia Cameron prescribes in The Artist's Path has a principle: creativity needs to be fed before I can produce. Cameron calls it 'filling the well.' The metaphor is exact: if it doesn't rain, the well runs dry. If you don't expose your brain to non-work stimuli once a week, your ability to generate new ideas quietly declines, week by week.

Casa Milà — La Pedrera is an ideal place for a date with the artist because it meets the three conditions that Cameron asks for: It takes you out of your routine (a place other than your work and home), does not require production (you are going to receive, not create), and exposes you to curated stimuli (someone with judgment decided this was worth watching). Three conditions, an hour or two, once a week. It is probably the practice with the best mental ROI that you are going to add to your routine.

If you haven't taken the course yet, this is the place to start. Your Artist's Path is the free 12-week program that applies Julia Cameron's method to your life — including two hours a week blocked off on your calendar for appointments like this. More about the course at the end of the post.