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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
Building located on the chamfer of Gaudí Avenue with Còrsega Street, between the Sagrada Família and the modernist Sant Pau complex. With a pentagonal plan and three houses per landing, it consists of a ground floor, seven landings and a flat roof. The main façade is that of the corner which takes a chamfered shape. In the centre of the ground floor there is the main door, flanked by a rectangular opening on both sides, corresponding to commercial premises. The upper floors are configured along three longitudinal axes. Three doors open in the central one, the middle one is in the same plane of the façade, but the lateral ones recede slightly towards the interior of the wall diagonally. In the lateral axes there is a quadrangular window on each side and a balcony with a strong cantilever; these balconies have rounded ends and follow the angle to end in the lateral façades. The façade is finished by eaves and a pyramidal crowning above.
The two side façades are the same, with five longitudinal axes that on the ground floor correspond to the windows of the commercial premises and on the upper floors there are quadrangular openings except in one of the axes where there are semicircular balconies. The façades are finished with the eaves, which are a continuation of the main façade, and the closing wall of the roof.
The balconies have a stone base and an iron railing. The facing of the walls is plastered and painted ochre. On the ground floor, the wall is decorated with grey bands in relief, while on the other floors the different levels are separated by a molding that traces the three façades at the height of the windowsills. This series of horizontal lines, together with the balconies and the crowning of the façade, create a plastic game of great dynamism in the building.