About
In this first stage, the catalogue focuses on the modern and contemporary architecture designed and built between 1832 –year of construction of the first industrial chimney in Barcelona that we establish as the beginning of modernity– until today.
The project is born to make the architecture more accessible both to professionals and to the citizens through a website that is going to be updated and extended. Contemporary works of greater general interest will be incorporated, always with a necessary historical perspective, while gradually adding works from our past, with the ambitious objective of understanding a greater documented period.
The collection feeds from multiple sources, mainly from the generosity of architectural and photographic studios, as well as the large amount of excellent historical and reference editorial projects, such as architectural guides, magazines, monographs and other publications. It also takes into consideration all the reference sources from the various branches and associated entities with the COAC and other collaborating entities related to the architectural and design fields, in its maximum spectrum.
Special mention should be made of the incorporation of vast documentation from the COAC Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.
The rigour and criteria for selection of the works has been stablished by a Documental Commission, formed by the COAC’s Culture Spokesperson, the director of the COAC Historical Archive, the directors of the COAC Digital Archive, and professionals and other external experts from all the territorial sections that look after to offer a transversal view of the current and past architectural landscape around the territory.
The determination of this project is to become the largest digital collection about Catalan architecture; a key tool of exemplar information and documentation about architecture, which turns into a local and international referent, for the way to explain and show the architectural heritage of a territory.
About us
Project by: 
Created by: 
Directors:
2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar OrnaqueDocumental Commission:
2019-2024 Ramon Faura Carolina B. Garcia Eduard Callís Francesc Rafat Pau Albert Antoni López Daufí Joan Falgueras Mercè Bosch Jaume Farreny Anton Pàmies Juan Manuel Zaguirre Josep Ferrando Fernando Marzá Moisés Puente Aureli Mora Omar OrnaqueCollaborators:
2019-2024 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Maria Jesús Quintero Lucía M. Villodres Montse ViuExternal Collaborators:
2019-2024 Helena Cepeda Inès MartinelWith the support of:
Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de CulturaCollaborating Entities:
ArquinFADFundació Mies van der Rohe
Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico
Basílica de la Sagrada Família
Museu del Disseny de Barcelona
Fomento
AMB
EINA Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona
IEFC
Fundació Domènench Montaner.
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We kindly invite you to help us improve the dissemination of Catalan architecture through this space. Here you can propose works and provide or amend information on authors, photographers and their work, along with adding comments. The Documentary Commission will analyze all data. Please do only fill in the fields you deem necessary to add or amend the information.
The Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya is one of the most important documentation centers in Europe, which houses the professional collections of more than 180 architects whose work is fundamental to understanding the history of Catalan architecture. By filling this form, you can request digital copies of the documents for which the Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya manages the exploitation of the author's rights, as well as those in the public domain. Once the application has been made, the Arxiu Històric del Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya will send you an approximate budget, which varies in terms of each use and purpose.
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Works (11)
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Chronology (11)
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Born Market
Josep Maria Cornet i Mas, Josep Fontserè i Mestre
El Born Market is a key part of the urbanisation plan that gave rise to Ciutadella Park when it was demolished in the mid-19th century. A series of long and narrow islands are arranged parallel to the direction of the park and deliver it against the Ribera district. The heart of the intervention is a public square flanked by Mercat del Born (Barcelona's wholesale market). The original market was conceived as a covered square with a very light roof, the work of Josep Maria Cornet i Mas. This roof has the shape of a cross inscribed on the perimeter of the market, formed by asymmetrical gabled arms with skylights on the ridge, raised in relation to other groups of identical roofs. There is an octagonal dome with a lantern in the cross. The enclosures of the market are opaque up to half height and remain covered (as are the jumps between roofs) by a metal blind, almost a mesh, which introduces a nuanced, almost religious light. The market was abandoned in 1971 and survives abandoned during the Olympic Games. When, finally, it was intended to house the Provincial Library of Barcelona, its architects, Enric Sòria and Rafael de Cáceres, found the remains of the old neighbourhood of La Ribera in an optimal state of conservation. Currently, the building is still under construction to house part of the Museum of the History of the City which will deal with the preservation of these ruins under the structure of the archaeologically restored market. The new intervention has perimeter platforms that will allow a view of the ruins while keeping the space of the roundabout intact. The museum programme will be housed in cubicles arranged in the square. The entire intervention will be public and will restore the character of a square that Mediterranean markets have. -
Water Tower in La Ciutadella Park
Josep Fontserè i Mestre, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet
The building was created to meet the water demand of a park like the one in Ciutadella, and it is located next to it, on a standard block in the Eixample. The volume of the building is almost cubic, with four bays, with all the same façades – of solid brick, the only material used – and completely devoid of ornamentation; it is a pure service building, transcended based on the rigorous order of its façade, defined by the external buttresses supporting the deposit. It is aligned against Wellington Street, without touching any chamfer. The tank is located in the open air, elevated to pressurise the water by gravity. The interior space is a hypostyle room, the product of converting the support walls of the vaults that support the tank into pillars by drilling them through a regular system of arches. It is one of the most beautiful interior spaces in the city. The structure of the tank was calculated by Antoni Gaudí, still a student, in exchange for a direct pass in the subject Resistance of materials. -
Development of La Ciutadella Park
Josep Fontserè i Mestre, Elies Rogent Amat, Antoni Rovira i Trias
The Ciutadella Park extends over the remains of the old fort that was built in the 18th century to control Barcelona militarily, together with the Montjuïc Castle, and to be able to subject the city to crossfire if it revolted again. Once the space around the city had been cleared and the Cerdà plan had begun its works, the military imposed the condition that the land should be turned into a park for the fort’s demolition. This is submitted to a competition, which is won by Josep Fontserè thanks to his ability to hand over the land against the remains of the Ribera district, demolished precisely to build the fort, and against the growing city organised by Cerdà. Against the Ribera district, Fontserè organises an urbanization which depends on the Passeig del Born and the current Passeig Picasso, both parallel, culminating in the Born market. Against the Eixample, Fontserè has what will become the Passeig de Sant Joan. The project suffers from two major setbacks: the first one happens when Fontserè is forced to preserve part of the Ciutadella buildings (such as the one that currently houses Parliament of Catalonia) and to have a water tank that ends up being turned into a monumental waterfall. Fontserè does the project with the collaboration of Antoni Gaudí, then still a student. The second setback is the 1898 Exhibition, which delays its development. This is carried out episodically over the following decades, never completed on the southern slope where Mayor Porcioles will end up building the Zoo that prevents the connection with Poblenou. Today, all the romantic-inspired gardens, preserved by existing buildings and those built in the early 20th century, which produce one of the most pleasant walks in the city, are preserved. The monumental waterfall, where Gaudí played a decisive role, is still open to the public and can be visited. The park is guarded by a perimeter fence and the Zoo is still awaiting relocation. When this is done, the park will finally reach its original perimeter. -
Samà Park
Situat als afores de Cambrils, camí de Montbrió del Camp va ser projectat per Josep Fontserè i Mestre l’any 1881. Va ser encarregat i promogut per Salvador Samà i Torrents, marquès de Marianao. Es tracta d’un jardí botànic clos, d’unes 14 hectàrees, d’estil romàntic. És una de les últimes i més importants mostres d’aquest estil a Catalunya. El gust i el traç per recrear lo exòtic, són l’eix vertebrador del projecte. El parc comença sent el jardí de la casa, aquesta recreació d’un paisatge exòtic amb aires romàntics porta associada la construcció de diferents recintes per tal d’allotjar animals, portats d’arreu del món, per tal de constituir el zoològic privat del marquès. Actualment, la presència d’animals és quasi anecdòtica; tot i que les construccions de rocalla, simulant coves i grutes naturals, encara es conserven. La morfologia i ordenació del parc es basa en la generació d’uns eixos principals, envoltats de plantacions simètriques i ortogonals (de plataners, palmeres, oliveres i ametllers entre d’altres), que envolten la casa. A mesura que ens n’allunyem aquests eixos, es converteixen en camins, amb formes més orgàniques i sinuoses, adaptant-se a la topografia, i multiplicant les possibilitats de recorregut. Les plantacions regulars es van desfent i integrant en agrupacions, franges i clars tal i com si ens trobéssim en mig del bosc. Construccions com la torre-mirador, la font-sortidor, el llac i la glorieta, o el canal i la cascada, van generant diferents escenografies que recreen els diferents paisatges i ambients del jardí.
Bibliography (12)
Routes & Notes (5)
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Rutes 17
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Rutes 62
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Rutes 48
