Does 凝{こ}る mean "absorbed in" or "artistic" in this sentence?


My JLPT textbook gives me this example sentence to explain the meaning of
`凝{こ}る`:

> 釣{つ}りに凝{こ}る

The book provides a translation, which is, "be absorbed in fishing."

Later, in a test question, there is this sentence:

> あの建物{たてもの}はかなりこった造{つく}りをしている

(The question in the book does not use the kanji for `凝{こ}る`.)

This really confused me until I looked in a dictionary and saw that `凝{こ}った`
can also be defined as "elaborate, refined, artistic."

I notice, when I use Rikaichan to double check the definitions as I write
this, that the "artistic" definition only comes up for the `こった` form of the
word, and the "be absorbed in" definition comes up for the `こる` form of the
word.

I don't understand how I was supposed to get the meaning in the question from
the meaning in the example. Perhaps the book just made a mistake? Or maybe
there's some other way of looking at this that I'm just not seeing. The
varying forms of the verb and the use of hiragana versus kanji is confusing me
to the point where I can't sort it all out.

What is the relationship between the meanings, the kanji versus hiragana use,
and the two forms of the word?




It's just one word with more than one definition. [See for
yourself](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%87%9D%E3%82%8B) (or
[here](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/82723/m0u/%E5%87%9D%E3%82%8B/)).
Your first example falls under the first definition (趣味に夢中になる) while your
second example falls under the second definition (意匠をこらす). Kanji usage seems
irrelevant here, it's the same word and you can use the kanji or not with no
change in meaning. Context should give you an idea for which meaning you need
to use. So for example, if a building has a "こった造り" then you can probably
surmise that it's not referring to someone being absorbed in something.




It's just one word with more than one definition. [See for
yourself](http://www.weblio.jp/content/%E5%87%9D%E3%82%8B) (or
[here](http://dictionary.goo.ne.jp/leaf/jn2/82723/m0u/%E5%87%9D%E3%82%8B/)).
Your first example falls under the first definition (趣味に夢中になる) while your
second example falls under the second definition (意匠をこらす). Kanji usage seems
irrelevant here, it's the same word and you can use the kanji or not with no
change in meaning. Context should give you an idea for which meaning you need
to use. So for example, if a building has a "こった造り" then you can probably
surmise that it's not referring to someone being absorbed in something.

