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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 complex consists of several single-storey buildings: café-lounge, theatre, outbuildings and terrace. The main body is notable for its great height – it has a façade facing the street, with a large tripartite window, and the garden, where there are large windows with rounded arches. The ground plan is rectangular, with a gable roof that generates the shape of a pediment. On the main façade there are sgraffiti depicting musical angels and, above the central oculus, the coat of arms with the four bars surrounded by laurels and garlands. The corners of the building are crowned with terracotta jugs.
In contrast, the façade of the theatre building is more austere. The pediment is more accentuated, and on either side, fluted pilasters delimit the width of the façade. The sgraffito is found in the central area of the gable, which bears the year of its construction. Here, too, the corners are crowned with terracotta jugs.
The large stone plinth, which also forms the garden fence and links up with that of house no. 28, is particularly noteworthy.
The original project was not fully carried out.
The Casal Català was founded on the initiative of the Hostalenca Regionalist Union, created in 1918, which through Joan Vallès, Joan Subirats, Casimir Orriols and Enric Cucurella financed its construction, which was commissioned to the architect Josep Goday in 1924. In 1926, in the month of July, the house was inaugurated. The sgraffito work was carried out by Ferdinandus Serra in 1933.
In 1960 the building was refurbished and the name was changed to ‘Centro Cultural Recreativo Casal Català’. It was not until 1988 that this entity recovered its original name, which had been erased during the years of Franco's repression.