archatlas:Antoni Gaudí’s El Capricho by David CardelúsEl Capricho, built in Comillas in the northern
archatlas:Antoni Gaudí’s El Capricho by David CardelúsEl Capricho, built in Comillas in the northern region of Cantabria in Spain in 1885, is one of Antoni Gaudí’s youth early works and is contemporary to the recently restored Vicens House in Barcelona. El Capricho is a small and beautiful hidden gem surrounded by a very unique landscape, one of Gaudí’s few buildings built outside Catalonia and that, like all the works of the Catalan architect, displays a great richness of detail and symbolism .Surely one of the most surprising elements of El Capricho is the constant presence of ceramic tiles representing sunflowers, a plant impossible to find in the rainy region of Cantabria and that is placed on the facade to literally take the sun to the building, a house which is also oriented as a perfect solar compass following sunrise and sunset path to coincide with the domestic activities that take place into this home. The name of the building, El Capricho, evokes the freedom of style of the musical composition but also speaks of the Quijano’s desire to erect a building with such an extravagant look for the time in a place like Comillas –‘capricho’ is actually Spanish for’ whim’–. -- source link