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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 design guidelines and functional programme of the Catalan Health Service of the Generalitat de Catalunya have been used to carry out the Primary Healthcare Centre project.
The building is developed on a single floor, to avoid architectural barriers, without resorting to mechanical lifting elements. It is accessed from Carrer de Gelida (the only urbanised street from a small common square in the CAP and the adjoining school group). By means of a slight ramp that overcomes a 50cm difference in level, you reach the main door, on the south façade. The entrance for personnel and goods is located on the opposite façade, where a small parking lot for personnel is also planned.
The building is designed in such a way that the outbuildings for public use have the best orientation. Thus, the care areas are located in the southeast, reserving the northern area for services.
It has been intended that natural light reaches all parts of the building, so that the use of electrical energy is minimal during the day.
The land on which the CAP is built is rectangular and its major side is perpendicular to the street that gives access. It is an introverted construction that develops around two interior courtyards that make it certainly independent of the indifferent environment that surrounds it.
The courtyard closest to the public entrance is an elongated rectangle, around which the lobby with the reception and the entrance to the health room, waiting rooms, corridors for medical consultations and consultations social is located.
Its pavement is made of cobblestone laid in a doorjamb pattern, with joints where grass grows and where a cherry tree has been planted.
The second courtyard illuminates the areas of the medical staff, the doctor on duty, the dining rooms and the facilities. The pavement of this patio is made of floating wood on which pots with begonias rest.
The construction systems are traditional and with simple materials, with little technical complication, adapting the material to the function it must achieve.
When choosing the materials, the good acceptance of these over time has been important to avoid major maintenance losses in the future.
The brick is the exterior cladding material with which the safety shutters are also built, which illuminate all the outbuildings that are developed on the façade.
The interior floor of the building is terrazzo. A 1.3m plinth with plastic laminate has been placed in the public areas. The exterior carpentry is lacquered aluminum.
A hot and cold air conditioning system has been designed, located on the roof of the building. From the energy-producing center, the air is distributed through ducts that go through the ceiling to the different areas of the building.