The headquarters of the Rodriguez Acosta Foundation
The carmen of the Rodriguez-Acosta Foundation is one of the most important contemporary buildings in Spain. Its uniqueness earned it the distinction of national monument in 1982, then BIC of the Junta de Andalucía.
It is a century-old building, which began to be built in 1916 on a site near Torres Bermejas, on the Mauror hill. Its promoter, the Granada painter José María Rodríguez-Acosta, took almost 15 years to finish it, with the aim of making it solely his painting studio. Part of its uniqueness comes from this, as it is not structured in its interior as a house and it is linked to the garden that is planted and planned before the building itself.
Construction history
The history of the construction was complex, not only because of the abruptness of the terrain: on the original site there were small old buildings whose remains were demolished to clear the space and adapt it to the new construction. The unevenness of the terrain made it necessary and a solid terracing and conditioning that involved the work of specialists. José María Rodríguez-Acosta counted on Modesto Cendoya, the architect Ricardo Santa Cruz de la Casa, Teodoro Anasagasti and José Felipe Giménez Lacal to direct the works, contributing solutions and ideas, although, as many think, it was the spirit of the painter himself, José María Rodríguez-Acosta, which is reflected in this architectural work.
The garden
Although this building is called “carmen” like most of the houses with gardens in the Albaicín and the Mauror, it really has few formal similarities with this type of building. In the carmen of the Foundation, the spaces destined to vegetable garden are eliminated and most of the land is paved. In this garden, which is being built at the same time as the building, a symbolic discourse is developed, with sculptures and fountains. One of the tendencies that characterize this construction, the use of material from the haulage industry, is particularly visible in the garden. Approximately 10% of the antique construction elements that we find used in the facades in the garden, and the interiors, are antique pieces recovered from other buildings and used with subtle mastery in this one. Along with them we find other materials that are copies of known models of classicism. The ensemble shows a singular and unclassifiable building, which some consider close to Rationalist architecture, but in which other trends of the time can be identified, such as Modernism, Ars Nouveau, etc. Because of its proximity to Torres Bermejas and the Alhambra, there are those who see in it a direct influence of the Nasrid defensive constructions.
