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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
A compact and low-impact construction is proposed using economical and industrialised construction systems.
The building, with its rectangular volume, is located in a low-density area intended for sports facilities and parking in the centre of the village. The dispensary is in the upper part of this area, in contact with the urban fabric. In one corner, a cantilevered volume appears that approaches the line of the street. It is precisely through this point that the main access to the building takes place. A series of ramps solve the topographical differences between the level of the street and the entrance to the building, which is slightly lower, leaving an outdoor garden space around.
The rectangle is oriented so that the two long façades have an east-west orientation. A central longitudinal courtyard is opened, open from north to south, with which natural light is introduced into the interior of the building and favours cross ventilation. In the consultation areas, it has been chosen to organise circulation and waiting areas in visual contact with the outside, emphasising the more public nature of these spaces. Consultations are instead opened in the central inner courtyard.
It is a compact volume, of low height, which presents a continuous façade made with only two prefabricated elements: a concrete lattice for the translucent parts and GRC panels for the opaque parts. The façade lattice responds to a single large mould and is placed in different ways, horizontally or vertically, so that variants of façade solutions are achieved from a single element. This lattice guarantees privacy to the users of the centre and acts as sun protection on the exposed façades. But above all it makes both the interior and exterior spaces take on a vibrant and changing appearance in accordance with the light variations, turning an industrialised concrete building into a building that is both friendly, warm and comfortable.