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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 house is located on a small plot with a steep slope, with magnificent views over the wooded slopes that border the centre of Aiguafreda on the north side. The house distributes the programme making use of great freedom in the three dimensions, in order to adapt to the slope and arrange the different rooms in a compact volume. The living room, kitchen and dining room are arranged on the ground floor in a staggered manner, until reaching the level of the small garden at the back. An intermediate floor houses the master bedroom, and a third level houses a study. The disjointed volumes of the house are unified by a single-sided roof, an inclined plane that favours views to the south from the street and the entrance. The house is developed on a single floor at some points, and on three levels at the highest points, so that each part of the domestic program builds its own volume. An interior patio allows you to go around the entire house through the garden. From the street, the combination of the porch, the semi-underground entrance and the door to the car park build the exterior image of the house.
Casa Martín, the name of which refers to the owner and promoter, the editor R. Martín, is located in the vicinity of the Montseny massif, one of the main mountainous areas of Catalonia. Its design arises, in part, from the desire to be rooted in the rugged landscape of the area, through its general shape and the architectural elements that compose it.
The building can be described as a set of volumes that house the different rooms, aggregated without a clear geometric order and grouped around the interior staircase of the home. Architectural elements such as the sloping roof or the earthy colour of the exterior walls contribute to giving a unified image.