Combining functionalism and esthetics in the Washerwoman portico, Gaudí designed a sloping wall with a triple use: to naturally contain the terrain's rock fragments; to produce a surface area above wide enough for a road; and to create a pedestrian way on the lower level. All the columns, stemming from the portico's tilted supports, are different shapes and topped by mushroom-like capitals. The portico is named for the caryatid that adorns the first column (pictured with a friend for scale).

The washerwoman is the only one of the columns to have a human figure in this amazing portico: