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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
The project originates from the desire to qualify the interior space and to integrate naturally into the scale of the surroundings. The entire programme is located at street level, in a scheme of two rows of consulting rooms framing a higher room that receives light from the north through a tall window. It consists of a classical volume with three naves, in the manner of a chapel, where the gaze is directed towards the sky.
From the outside, the building gives very few clues about its interior space and is shielded from the road by its opacity, responding to the needs of privacy of the equipment.
The access route is gradual, inviting calm. A porch welcomes the visitor in a welcoming gesture, extending the street, where a long bench allows the visitor to rest and breathe fresh air in the shade. At the end of the route, a sloping wall leads you into the nave, accompanying you gently, to discover the richness and light of the interior with some surprise.
The materials used are the traditional ones of the place: ceramic brick for the walls and the back, concrete in its most austere state and varnished pine wood. All of this was built by local craftsmen with the clear intention of lasting over time.
Inside, the material and thickness of the walls favour thermal inertia which, as has always been the case in traditional architecture, favours a more temperate climate.
The building is protected from the sun and ventilated naturally by opening the tall windows to the north, cooling and renewing all the air inside.
AIS Grupo, BAAS Arquitectura, Jordi Badia i Rodríguez, Jero Gutiérrez, Francesc Sandalinas
AIS Grupo, BAAS Arquitectura, Jordi Badia i Rodríguez, Jero Gutiérrez, Francesc Sandalinas
AIS Grupo, BAAS Arquitectura, Jordi Badia i Rodríguez, Jero Gutiérrez, Francesc Sandalinas