El Capricho: exterior view

Gaud�’s first important buildings reveal an imaginative experimentation with ornament and construction, exploiting local building techniques, materials, and craftsmanship along Arts and Crafts principles, albeit at first with an Islamic flavour. His use of azulejos (glazed tiles) in particular helped to revitalize the local art of tile-making. The three-storey Casa Vicens (1883-85), Barcelona, has walls of red earth-coloured rubble with polychromatic counterchange tile banding. Its tall top storey is set back behind a perforated screen supported by highly original Y-headed colonettes. Two similar buildings followed: El Capricho (1883-85), a summer villa in Comillas, which was a heavier design with a fa�ade of rusticated stone at ground-floor level and striped brickwork above; and the lodge, stables, and entrance gate (1887) to the Finca G�ell, Pedralbes, Barcelona.