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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 building is formed by simple, white, rectangular plans, but the main entrance is quickly identified by the porch of metal profiles and pillars that overhangs three-quarters of the height of a solid, opaque brick wall. The door is set back a metre inside the wall.
Although the entrance is now through a fence that separates it from the street, there used to be a Japanese-inspired landscaping that established the access circulations and the division between public and private space. Some parts of it can still be found today.
The floor plan of the house is a large L-shaped ground floor, open to the south, with a very orthogonal layout. With a linear distributor at the entrance, in the southeast wing we find the private area (three large rooms, a small one and a bathroom), to the northwest the service nucleus (kitchen, laundry room, bathroom and ironing room) and at the end of this, we enter, linked and parallel to the façade, the living room, the kitchen, the laundry room and the bathroom.
When we reach the living room, we can either be entering or going back outside. With another window directly opposite, two thirds of the south façade is open, with sliding balcony windows emphasising the feeling of being outside again.
From the living room, the terrace is captured and incorporated as a real enclosure of the living area as a whole. The flat roof cantilevers out onto the terrace, extending this space beyond the interior boundary. The terrace space is intended to be slightly enclosed by the recessing of the east wing, while opening onto the vegetation surrounding the house.
As in other cases, the architect takes advantage of the topography and, with only slight adaptations, creates a semi-basement level for the vehicle garage.
The rear courtyard lands on three different levels: small flights of steps lead down from the living terrace to the terrace before the garden and from there to the garden in the natural space behind, which is no longer levelled.
The windows, as in rationalist architecture, are regular and flush with the façade plans. The façade is plain and clear, with only the openings and the upper crowns painted grey, like the steel profiles of the overhangs, which emphasises the horizontality of the whole.
Slate is also used at various points in the house – for the tiling of terraces, façade plinths and exterior steps.