“A home is the family’s tiny nation,” the Spanish architect Antoni Gaudí once wrote. Whether single-family homes, housing blocks, palaces, religious buildings or special commissions, Gaudí’s creations are wonders to behold.
Casa Vicens, which has recently been converted from a private home into a museum, was built between 1883 and 1885 for Manuel Vicens i Montaner, a stock and currency broker. The house is regarded as an early masterpiece of art nouveau, with its unique blend of moorish, neoclassical and organic forms, and was Gaudí’s first commission to design a family home. The house marks a shift from everything previously built in Catalonia, exemplified by its polychromatic decoration, built-in furniture, murals of herons and cranes, and papier-mâché carvings of shiny cherries and leaves.
In 2005, the house was included in Unesco’s list of Gaudí-designed World Heritage Sites, making it one of several in Barcelona to be listed. In 2014, the property was bought by the bank MoraBanc of Andorra with the intention of turning it into a museum and cultural centre open to the public for the first time in 130 years. The €4.5m (£4m) restoration was overseen by architects José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres and David García, as well as Mercedes Mora, who managed the project for her family’s bank.
Why open another house designed by Gaudí?
Mercedes Mora: As a house, not a palace or apartment block, the property is a social and historical testimony of how wealthy people were living at the time. Gaudí’s notebook (known as the Reus Manuscript) contained his thoughts about family homes, as well as notes on the origins of his style and aesthetic ideas, much of which can be seen in Casa Vicens. With this house we also see evidence of Gaudí’s relationship between architecture and nature – it represents part of his learning as an architect. Casa Vicens is comparable to the architect’s work at the crypt of the Colonia Güell, which is just outside the city. Gaudí used straight lines in both locations, while his later buildings were dominated by curvilinear undulations. The beauty of Casa Vicens is displayed in its ornamentation rather than its architectural complexity. Consequently, Casa Vicens is regarded as Gaudí’s first masterpiece – from the tiles to the fabric, furniture, gardens and fountains.
House-museums are so much about environment rather than having labels everywhere. How have you used interpretation?
In reference to museology, we have opted for the direct experience – instead of audioguides, there will be people on hand to answer questions. We believe that contact with the house, its ornamentation, its explosion of symbolism and polychrome, together with a permanent and temporary exhibition, will prove stimulating for visitors.
What have been the successes and challenges of this project?
Finding the balance between restoring a Unesco monument and creating an innovative management model that allows the project to be profitable has been a delicate process. Also, all the restoration has been done using authentic techniques from Gaudí’s time.
What is a particular highlight?
The smoker’s room is an oriental-influenced, jewel-like space. It underwent intense restoration work to recover its original polychrome structure. Architectural tests revealed unexpected colours on the ceiling and walls – luckily we were able to recover the blue background, the varying green tones in the leaves and gold detail. Here, Gaudí also incorporated a polychrome pastiche of the stalactite-like ceilings of the 13th century Muslim royal palace of the Alhambra in Granada. Casa Vicens is one of the few buildings from the late 19th century to hold original papier-mâché pieces made by the contemporaneous designer and lithographer, Hermenegildo Miralles.
What exhibitions will be held at Casa Vicens?
A permanent exhibition placing the history of the house in its social, cultural and artistic context will include a reproduction of the Reus Manuscript. A temporary exhibition setting Casa Vicens against an international backdrop will present single-family homes designed and built by contemporaries of Gaudí at roughly the same time. This will be curated by Juan José Lahuerta, an architect and professor of the history of art and architecture at the School of Architecture in Barcelona and the director of the Gaudí Chair, a research and educational body for the work of Gaudí. Every six months artists and designers will be invited to engage with the house through their own interpretive vision. This could even include displaying furniture in the house as it is unfurnished.
The UN named 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism. Will Casa Vicens be a responsible and sustainable project?
Our focus has been on respecting the museum’s physical limitations while making it accessible to the public. The house will allow a maximum of 600 visitors a day and 200,000 a year. This will reduce the impact of tourism on the neighbourhood and also allow people to discover the house at a leisurely pace. There is also an accessible tour for those with reduced mobility. Taking the time to appreciate every corner of Casa Vicens without feeling rushed is important.
Main funder MoraBanc
Historical research Veclus Project management Dalmau-Morros Tècnics
Architects Martínez Lapeña - Torres Architects; David Architecture Workshop Office
Structural engineering Static Ingeniería
Mechanical engineer Consulting Oficina Tècnica Lluís J. Duart
House restoration Policromia; Manel Diestre; Xavier Serra; Arco Baleno; Cap marc; Lluís Costa
Garden Estudi de Jardineria
Graphic Design Mucho
Exhibition design Mediapro; Puigdellívol
Admission Adult €16; Children under 7 Free; Children 7-18 and concessions, €14
Rebecca Swirsky is a freelance writer
Casa Vicens, which has recently been converted from a private home into a museum, was built between 1883 and 1885 for Manuel Vicens i Montaner, a stock and currency broker. The house is regarded as an early masterpiece of art nouveau, with its unique blend of moorish, neoclassical and organic forms, and was Gaudí’s first commission to design a family home. The house marks a shift from everything previously built in Catalonia, exemplified by its polychromatic decoration, built-in furniture, murals of herons and cranes, and papier-mâché carvings of shiny cherries and leaves.
In 2005, the house was included in Unesco’s list of Gaudí-designed World Heritage Sites, making it one of several in Barcelona to be listed. In 2014, the property was bought by the bank MoraBanc of Andorra with the intention of turning it into a museum and cultural centre open to the public for the first time in 130 years. The €4.5m (£4m) restoration was overseen by architects José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres and David García, as well as Mercedes Mora, who managed the project for her family’s bank.
Why open another house designed by Gaudí?
Mercedes Mora: As a house, not a palace or apartment block, the property is a social and historical testimony of how wealthy people were living at the time. Gaudí’s notebook (known as the Reus Manuscript) contained his thoughts about family homes, as well as notes on the origins of his style and aesthetic ideas, much of which can be seen in Casa Vicens. With this house we also see evidence of Gaudí’s relationship between architecture and nature – it represents part of his learning as an architect. Casa Vicens is comparable to the architect’s work at the crypt of the Colonia Güell, which is just outside the city. Gaudí used straight lines in both locations, while his later buildings were dominated by curvilinear undulations. The beauty of Casa Vicens is displayed in its ornamentation rather than its architectural complexity. Consequently, Casa Vicens is regarded as Gaudí’s first masterpiece – from the tiles to the fabric, furniture, gardens and fountains.
House-museums are so much about environment rather than having labels everywhere. How have you used interpretation?
In reference to museology, we have opted for the direct experience – instead of audioguides, there will be people on hand to answer questions. We believe that contact with the house, its ornamentation, its explosion of symbolism and polychrome, together with a permanent and temporary exhibition, will prove stimulating for visitors.
What have been the successes and challenges of this project?
Finding the balance between restoring a Unesco monument and creating an innovative management model that allows the project to be profitable has been a delicate process. Also, all the restoration has been done using authentic techniques from Gaudí’s time.
What is a particular highlight?
The smoker’s room is an oriental-influenced, jewel-like space. It underwent intense restoration work to recover its original polychrome structure. Architectural tests revealed unexpected colours on the ceiling and walls – luckily we were able to recover the blue background, the varying green tones in the leaves and gold detail. Here, Gaudí also incorporated a polychrome pastiche of the stalactite-like ceilings of the 13th century Muslim royal palace of the Alhambra in Granada. Casa Vicens is one of the few buildings from the late 19th century to hold original papier-mâché pieces made by the contemporaneous designer and lithographer, Hermenegildo Miralles.
What exhibitions will be held at Casa Vicens?
A permanent exhibition placing the history of the house in its social, cultural and artistic context will include a reproduction of the Reus Manuscript. A temporary exhibition setting Casa Vicens against an international backdrop will present single-family homes designed and built by contemporaries of Gaudí at roughly the same time. This will be curated by Juan José Lahuerta, an architect and professor of the history of art and architecture at the School of Architecture in Barcelona and the director of the Gaudí Chair, a research and educational body for the work of Gaudí. Every six months artists and designers will be invited to engage with the house through their own interpretive vision. This could even include displaying furniture in the house as it is unfurnished.
The UN named 2017 the International Year of Sustainable Tourism. Will Casa Vicens be a responsible and sustainable project?
Our focus has been on respecting the museum’s physical limitations while making it accessible to the public. The house will allow a maximum of 600 visitors a day and 200,000 a year. This will reduce the impact of tourism on the neighbourhood and also allow people to discover the house at a leisurely pace. There is also an accessible tour for those with reduced mobility. Taking the time to appreciate every corner of Casa Vicens without feeling rushed is important.
Project data
Cost €3.8m (£3.35m)Main funder MoraBanc
Historical research Veclus Project management Dalmau-Morros Tècnics
Architects Martínez Lapeña - Torres Architects; David Architecture Workshop Office
Structural engineering Static Ingeniería
Mechanical engineer Consulting Oficina Tècnica Lluís J. Duart
House restoration Policromia; Manel Diestre; Xavier Serra; Arco Baleno; Cap marc; Lluís Costa
Garden Estudi de Jardineria
Graphic Design Mucho
Exhibition design Mediapro; Puigdellívol
Admission Adult €16; Children under 7 Free; Children 7-18 and concessions, €14
Rebecca Swirsky is a freelance writer