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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
Isolated garden-city typology building. It uses the unevenness of the plot and has different heights at the front and at the back. The street façade consists of a ground floor and an attic, while the rear façade has three floors. It has a complex plan with protruding rectangular bodies and a composite roof. A small tower with a roof on two sides protrudes from the façade. It has forges with sinuous work. The house is painted white and has ceramic decoration with alternations of white and blue forming horizontal stripes. The roof follows the same combination. There is a ceramic medallion with the Virgin and Child scene.
El Figaró is a town with a tradition of summering since the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th century, boosted by the existence of the railway that facilitates access from Barcelona. Its aesthetic is close to Noucentisme although it uses some elements of Modernist typology. The exact dating of the house and its author are unknown.
It is an isolated building following the city-garden typology, with a small garden around it and several terraces. It uses the unevenness of the land and has different heights at the front and at the back. The street façade consists of a ground floor and an attic while the rear façade has 3 floors. It has a complex plan with protruding rectangular bodies and a composite roof. A small tower with a roof on two sides protrudes from the façade. It has forgings on both the doors and windows with sinuous geometric and floral elements. The house is painted white and has ceramic decoration with alternations of white and blue, forming horizontal stripes. The roof follows the same decoration. The construction is made with painted brick walls, covered with glazed tiles. On the south façade, the ceramic medallion with the scene of the Virgin and the Child is preserved and below it in a blue tile rectangle we can read AVE MARIA. For many people the house is known by the popular name of Ave Maria.
Figaró is a town that has a strong summer tradition since the late 19th and early 20th centuries, boosted by the existence of the railway that facilitated access from Barcelona. Its aesthetic is close to Noucentisme, although it uses some elements of modernist typology. The date and author remain unknown. The phenomenon of summering in Figaró started at the beginning of the 20th century with the improvement of communications, which allowed the occupation of old houses and the construction of new residences by holidaymakers, mainly from Barcelona. The presence of summer vacationers was increasing and, thus, in 1912 it was said that the indigenous population needed to "add a large number of seasonal residents during the summer who in the present year have passed 80 families. The neighbourhood of the season in the summer, increased continuously every year, because in 1904 there were only about 30 families, and this is due to the fact that not only new houses are built on land not yet built on, but also new ones, and others are restored and beautified, which immediately become occupied by outsiders". The consequences of the presence of numerous holidaymakers were important for the municipality and the local population. There were, without a doubt, worrying ones, such as the occupation of old houses, which was "to the detriment of the fixed neighbourhood, which for this reason tends to decrease", or the general increase in prices, while others were positive (adoption of public hygiene measures, activation of the construction sector). Currently, the most obvious mark of the historic summer holiday in Figaró is the presence of imposing modernist towers, buildings of great beauty comparable to those found in other localities in the Vallès.