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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
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.
Ca l'Herrando factory is an industrial building located at the foot of the road that goes from Sant Sadurní to link with the Igualada one in Vilafranca. After many refurbishments, its interest lies especially in the façades facing the road. The crowning of the naves with rounded and stepped shapes is interesting, as well as the use of exposed brick and stone fittings.
The factory was built during the present century.
Dye factory with exposed brick façade and stone apparatus. It presents a crowning of the naves with rounded and stepped shapes. The interior is very disfigured by the refurbishments undergone throughout the present century. The façade presents four well-differentiated bodies. The first one to the west, has only one opening to the outside, consisting of a large door covered with a semi-circular arch, made of ingot. The crowning, which roughly follows the shape of the arch of the door, is made with billet battlements, finished in flat tile. The second body is the highest in the building and gives way to a high nave, with a ground floor and two floors. The ground floor has a door and two rectangular windows, elongated vertically. The first floor has three identical windows, while the upper floor is crowned with a straight surface with battlements at both ends, concave pediment in the centre, with a series of narrow vertical rectangular openings. The third body has access through a large covered door with a semicircular arch made of brick, flanked on each side by single pylons for vehicles, offering a hatch for foot access, on its right side. The crowning is done with battlements that trace the shape of the arch of the door. The last part of the building has only one floor and has three vertical rectangular windows. It is crowned by a lintel with battlements at both ends, while in the centre there is a smooth concave pediment. It should be noted that the most modern constructions of the industry were made remembering the finishes of the original building.
The company "Tintes Herrando S.L." was founded by Mr. Manuel Herrando Compte and his brother. It was made exclusively skein dyes. The same company had two other factories, one in Bòbila del Sabater, where spinning heads were made, and another in Sant Quintí de Mediona where the dyeing of crossed coils or "gateau" was done. The raw material, the wool, came from Terrassa and Sabadell. The Sant Pere factory was one of the first to start making permanent white in the textile sector. The factory has been closed since 1989.
By using many acids in the production of the factory, it was a very bad job for the health of the workers. The most interesting thing about the building is the old body.