In 1996, Editorial Munilla Lería published one of the first monographs on the work of Alberto Campo Baeza. Compact and practical in format (14x20 centimeters) and published in black and white, its nearly 250 pages summarized the first years of the architect’s career with great simplicity, making it accessible to students of architecture throughout Spain. But even without reading its contents readers were instantly captivated by his architecture. They only had to contemplate the intimacy of the house depicted on the cover, Gaspar House, with its courtyard enclosed by high white walls, revealing the tops of the pine trees and the blue sky.

Gaspar House, Vejer de la Frontera (Cádiz), 1990-1992

I don’t know if it was the blue of the sky or its reflection on the dewy walls, or the silent sheet of water accompanied by a few smooth pebbles, or the enigmatic presence of a freshly planted young lemon tree, or the white wall beckoning people from inside the house. I don’t know. But there was something about that house and the sweetness of its light that invited people to stay there forever...[+]