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Intro

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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.

Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque
Directors arquitecturacatalana.cat

credits

About us

Project by:

Created by:

Directors:

2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque

Documental 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 Ornaque

Collaborators:

2019-2024 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Maria Jesús Quintero Lucía M. Villodres Montse Viu

External Collaborators:

2019-2024 Helena Cepeda Inès Martinel

With the support of:

Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura

Collaborating Entities:

ArquinFAD

 

Fundació 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.

Design & Development:

edittio Nubilum
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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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Informació bàsica de protecció de dades

Responsable del tractament: Col·legi d Arquitectes de Catalunya 'COAC'
Finalitat del tractament: Tramitar la sol·licitud de còpies digitals dels documents dels quals l’Arxiu Històric del COAC gestiona els drets d'explotació dels autors, a més d'aquells que es trobin en domini públic.
Legitimació del tractament: El seu consentiment per tractar les seves dades personals.
Destinatari de cessions o transferències: El COAC no realitza cessions o transferències internacionals de dades personals.
Drets de les persones interessades: Accedir, rectificar i suprimir les seves dades, així com, l’exercici d’altres drets conforme a l’establert a la informació addicional.
Informació addicional: Pot consultar la informació addicional i detallada sobre protecció de dades en aquest enllaç

How to get there

In Pictures

Memory

The deposit built by Josep Fontseré in 1874 combines the virtues of good construction, the ease of adapting to changing uses and the ability to understand and improve the place where it is located. A great example of good architecture.

The building was in perfect physical condition after being used as a pavilion at the International Fair of 1888, and it later housed a hospital, a municipal warehouse, a movie set and also became an important resting place for many migratory birds.

The project proposed demolishing all the interior divisions, the central part of the intermediate slab, and opening five skylights in the geometric centre of the roof that balanced the perimeter light and established a visual and kaleidoscopic relationship between the interior and the roof. For safety reasons, the large body of water that had been planned to be stored was never allowed to reach the top edge of the tank and the new proposal replaced it with a thin sheet at the top. This improved the old image of the permanently half-empty pond and solved the problem of vertical loads, seismic actions and tightness by reducing the weight and forming an intermediate security camera between the bottom of the new vessel and the old one.

As for the interior, two elaborate prefabricated pieces of concrete, one as a slab and the other as a support, organised discontinuous mezzanines three metres high above the floor of the room. Treated as furniture in the huge space, they increased the area of use, contained all the voluminous facilities that the building needed and gave rise to a great diversity of reading spaces, from some very collected and homely to others with wider views and spectacular heights.

With the exception of the new skylights, everything, including the new pond, was delicately superimposed on the building without injuring it. Everything could be dismantled so that the original support appeared intact again. The search for the formal expression of this strategy guided the project in all its aspects. Again, an exercise that reflects the relationship between architecture and decoration.

Author: Lluís Clotet i Ballús

Authors

How to get there

On the Map

Awarded
Cataloged
Disappeared
All works

Constellation

Chronology

  1. Water Tower in La Ciutadella Park

    Josep Fontserè i Mestre, Antoni Gaudí i Cornet

    Water Tower in La Ciutadella Park

    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.

  2. Development of La Ciutadella Park

    Josep Fontserè i Mestre, Elies Rogent Amat, Antoni Rovira i Trias

    Development of La Ciutadella Park

    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.

  3. UPF Library in the Water Tower of La Ciutadella Park

    Clotet, Paricio & Associats, Lluís Clotet i Ballús, Ignacio Paricio i Ansuategui

    UPF Library in the Water Tower of La Ciutadella Park

    The deposit built by Josep Fontseré in 1874 combines the virtues of good construction, the ease of adapting to changing uses and the ability to understand and improve the place where it is located. A great example of good architecture. The building was in perfect physical condition after being used as a pavilion at the International Fair of 1888, and it later housed a hospital, a municipal warehouse, a movie set and also became an important resting place for many migratory birds. The project proposed demolishing all the interior divisions, the central part of the intermediate slab, and opening five skylights in the geometric centre of the roof that balanced the perimeter light and established a visual and kaleidoscopic relationship between the interior and the roof. For safety reasons, the large body of water that had been planned to be stored was never allowed to reach the top edge of the tank and the new proposal replaced it with a thin sheet at the top. This improved the old image of the permanently half-empty pond and solved the problem of vertical loads, seismic actions and tightness by reducing the weight and forming an intermediate security camera between the bottom of the new vessel and the old one. As for the interior, two elaborate prefabricated pieces of concrete, one as a slab and the other as a support, organised discontinuous mezzanines three metres high above the floor of the room. Treated as furniture in the huge space, they increased the area of use, contained all the voluminous facilities that the building needed and gave rise to a great diversity of reading spaces, from some very collected and homely to others with wider views and spectacular heights. With the exception of the new skylights, everything, including the new pond, was delicately superimposed on the building without injuring it. Everything could be dismantled so that the original support appeared intact again. The search for the formal expression of this strategy guided the project in all its aspects. Again, an exercise that reflects the relationship between architecture and decoration.

  4. Premio Década

    Award-Winner / Winner
    UPF Library in the Water Tower of La Ciutadella Park

    Clotet, Paricio & Associats, Lluís Clotet i Ballús, Ignacio Paricio i Ansuategui

Archive (6)

  • Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    Drawing

    Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    © Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    Drawing

    Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    © Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    Drawing

    Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    © Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    Drawing

    Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    © Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    Drawing

    Perspectiva interior de la Biblioteca de la UPF al Dipòsit de les Aigües del Parc de la Ciutadella.

    © Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • UPF Library in the Water Tower of La Ciutadella Park

    Graphic Material

    UPF Library in the Water Tower of La Ciutadella Park

    © Fons Clotet, Tusquets, Paricio / Arxiu Històric del COAC

Routes (1)

Related Works (32)

Set La Ciutadella | Campus de la Ciutadella - UPF | Urbanització del Parc de la Ciutadella

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