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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
Rectangular house in the city with a garden. It is covered by a hip roof made of Arabic tiles and cantilevered eaves, with a formal and plastic treatment of classic lines. The trestles on the four sides of the roof were built on the ground and later raised with a crane, which was unusual at the time.
On the main façade we find the door flanked by two large low arched windows. Above there is a moulding that runs throughout the house and separates the ground floor from the rest of the building. On the first floor there are two low arched windows and in the centre a sgraffito scene depicting a fisherman and a hunter, possibly typical activities of the region or hobbies of the owner of the house. In the attic we find an oculus flanked by two small windows. Throughout the façade you can appreciate sgraffito decorations representing cornucopias and vases with floral elements; on the corners, the same technique imitates the design of corner stones: rectangle designs with alternating rhomboidal elements. This decoration can be found on the four façades.
On the south façade, on the ground floor, you can see the door framed by two large windows. On the first floor there is a lowered arched opening that leads to a large balcony that occupies the entire width of the façade and on one side a sgraffito sundial. On the third floor you can see a rectangular window. Inside the house, everything is made of melis pine wood.
The overall appearance of this house exemplifies the incidence of classical tastes under the nationalist spirit that dominated the Noucentista movement.
Noucentista summer house with a rectangular plan, consisting of a ground floor and two landings. The original structure of load-bearing brick walls and wooden half-timbered floors is preserved.
The trestles on the four sides of the roof, which were built on the ground and then raised by crane, something unusual at the time, stand out.
It is covered by a hip roof, made with Arabic tiles and wood veneer, leaving a generous overhanging eaves, with a formal and plastic treatment of classic lines.
In all the façades, the distribution of openings is completely harmonious. The windows and balconies are decorated with the sgraffito technique.
On the main façade there is the door, flanked by two large low-arched windows. In the centre, the door follows the vertical axis together with the sgraffito of the first floor and the oculus of the second floor. Above the door there is a moulding, which runs the length of the house and separates the ground floor from the rest of the building. On the first floor there are two low-arched windows and, in the centre, a sgraffito scene depicting a hunter and a fisherman, possibly typical activities of the countryside or hobbies of the owner of the house. In the attic, there is an oculus flanked by two windows.
All the openings are surrounded by sgraffitos, with vegetal and animal motifs. In the corners, the same technique imitates the design of stones. It also presents drawings in a rectangle with alternating rhomboidal elements.
On the south façade, on the ground floor, the door is framed by two large windows.
On the first floor there is an opening with a lowered arch, which leads to a large balcony, which occupies the entire width of the façade. On one side, there is a sgraffito sundial and Diana the Huntress. And finally, on the third floor, in line with the opening to the balcony, there is a rectangular window.
On the north façade, the openings follow the slope of the interior staircase. The corners of the building, also decorated with sgraffitos (in this case geometric) also stand out.
The interior is made of melis pine wood. The original floors and wooden staircase are preserved.
On the ground floor, originally, there was the wooden staircase on the right hand side and three doors leading to the living room, the dining room and the kitchen, respectively. Later, the wall dividing the dining room was pulled down.
On the first floor there were three bedrooms, the oratory, which corresponds to the circular window on the west façade, and a bathroom. The oratory was destroyed during the war, when they were forced to burn the altarpiece that was there and remove any remains of the chapel. Another bedroom is made in its place. On the second floor there are five more bedrooms and a small toilet, which has as its window the circular opening that faces the main façade.
Building designed by Francesc Folguera i Grassi in 1926, as a summer house.
Folguera was one of the most outstanding architects of the early 20th century, in the Noucentista style. According to Ràfols (see bibliography) he belonged to the group of architects who fused the popular and the Brunellesque style, imposing the Mediterranean trend.
The design of the sgraffitos is also the work of the same architect, as well as the entire garden, with the fountain raised on elliptical brick columns and the gazebo, currently almost demolished. The most innovative methods were used in the design and construction of the house, for example double walls as a method of insulation.