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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
Can Miret de les Torres is located next to the village of Les Torres. It is an isolated building consisting of a ground floor and two storeys, with a gable roof.
The façade, with a symmetrical composition, has a semicircular arched doorway on the ground floor and two windows framed in brick.
The first floor is occupied by three Gothic-inspired windows, and the second floor has four openings the shape of which is determined by a decorative use of brick.
The sundial on the first floor is noteworthy, as well as other ornamental elements that enrich the façade (Valencian ceramic tiles and plates from different periods and the wrought-iron weather vane).
The ensemble is completed with an auxiliary building consisting of a garage and a fence.
Josep Font i Gumà built this house for his brother in 1898 and, when his brother died, the architect became the owner. The building was later sold to the Miret family, who still own it today.
Can Miret is located to the northeast of the village of Les Torres. It is an isolated building with a quadrangular floor plan and three bays. It consists of a ground floor, a first floor and an attic and has a gable roof with the ridge perpendicular to the façade. The façade is symmetrically arranged along three axes. The entrance is through a centred doorway with a semicircular arch with a relief of a rower on the keystone. On each side there is a window with a ceramic mixtilinear arch. Following the same axis as the doorway, there is a large window with a basket-handle arch with a finely worked canopy, in which four castles are sculpted. On the lateral axes, there is an ogee-arched window with a serrated arch with small arches. The attic is defined by an open ceramic lattice with four windows with a primitive stepped arch, in the centre of which there is a sundial and four modern Catalan ceramic plates. On the corner with the west façade, at the height of the first floor, there is a circular balcony with a sculpted stone railing that is a true work of art. Interspersed between the vegetal motifs there is a coat of arms depicting three castles. On the west façade there is a flat stone arched doorway, with a sculpted canopy with a central border bearing the year 1898. The openings on the ground floor have a ceramic mixtilinear arch, the one on the first floor has a stone ogee arch and the ones in the attic have a primitive ceramic stepped arch. The east façade has a tribune at the level of the first floor, next to which is a small lobed arch window. The attic opens onto a portico gallery with a ceramic semicircular arch. At one end of this façade, there is a perpendicular body with a two-storey elevation, open with ceramic round-arched porticoes. On the rear façade, there is a combination of mixtilinear-arched windows and primitive arched windows, all of which are ceramic. The walls are made of masonry and only the rear façade is plastered. The eaves are finished with an interlacing of tiles and ceramic tiles. The corner angles have exposed ashlars. In front of the house there is the cellar and the well.
The house was built by Josep Font i Gumà at the end of the 19th century, commissioned by his brother. When his brother died, it passed into the architect's hands. For this reason, it was known as Can Font i Gumà. Later, it passed into the hands of the Miret family.