Casa Vicens

Antoni Gaudi i Cornet was influenced by his three passions in life: architecture, nature, and religion, integrating these themes in ceramics, stained glass, wrought ironwork forging, and carpentry. He rarely drew detailed plans of his work, instead preferring to create them as three-dimensional scale models. Casa Vicens was his first major project, built in the 1880s in the Gràcia neighbourhood of Barcelona. 

Aesthetically, it belongs to the orientalist style, though of course interpreted through Gaudi’s particular and unique lens. For the first time, Gaudi outlined some of his constructive resources that eventually would become some of the most regular features of Modernisme. As predicted, the villa caused a great sensation when it was built. The area was still an independent urban nucleus of Barcelona and was classified as an independent town. 

Originally, the villa also had a large garden. Gaudi designed three facades, while the fourth side attached the house to an adjoining convent. When it was finally detached, Gaudi’s protégé Joan Baptista Serra designed the extension, following Gaudi’s original style. 

Gaudi used an abundance of ceramic tiling to decorate his work, as well as Moorish arches, columns of exposed brick, and dome-shaped finishes. In an unpublished article from 1881 on the topic of the family home, Gaudi writes: 

“The house is the small family nation. The family, like the nation, has history, foreign relations, changes of government, and so on. The independent family has its own house, that which is not, has a rented house. The owned house is the native country, the rental house is the land of emigration; this is why the owned house is the ideal for all. One cannot conceive of the owned house without a family, only the rented house is conceived in this way.”

Villa Vicens was intended as a summer residence. During the construction process, Manuel Vicens and Gaudi became good friends, and Gaudi would spend many summers with the family, designing furniture for them to use. Gaudi also personally oversaw the construction of the villa, watching the workers while sitting under a parasol to ensure that the work was of consistently high quality.

The house had many amenities, like a wine cellar, a smoking room, and a roof terrace. In his design, Gaudi combined practicality with aesthetics, while foreshadowing the work that was to come.  

Villa Vicens

Barcelona, Spain