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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 Torres Germans houses are located in the western corner of the block of flats in the Eixample district bounded by París, Enric Granados, Còrsega and Aribau Streets. These are three adjacent buildings built between 1905 and 1908 by the Torres Germans Society and designed by the architect Jaume Torres Grau.
The building located on the chamfer has a triangular plan, with a structure that includes the ground floor, main floor and four landings, all covered by a passable flat roof. The interior structure has five interior courtyards and a central stairwell, which is accessed from the entrance portal. The main section of the façade is parallel to the chamfer, developed in five ground plans with the angles articulated by tribunes. These are two tribunes with a semicircular structure in iron that have a leaded stained-glass window, decorated with a polychrome garland. They occupy the main floor and three of the landings, and work as a slab for the balcony on the top floor. The façade has nine axes of openings forming an axial composition starting from the main access. On the ground floor, the portals have a stone framework, with pilasters and capitals, which work as imposts for the molded semicircular arches that define the area above. The facing has a curved plinth that gives way to a carriage that reaches the height of the capitals. The facing of the other floors is unified by a sgraffito broken by the stone framing of the openings, which have sparse arches. The openings on the three central axes have curved balconies and on the lateral axes, spanned balconies. The angular axes and the top floor, on the other hand, have individual balconies. All balconies are enclosed by wrought iron railings. The building is crowned by a stepped gable topped by spiers that serves as the closure of the roof.
The buildings on the sides that are part of this set of houses have a formal and ornamental structure different from the one already described located on the chamfer.
The one facing París Street presents a rectangular plan on a long and narrow plot, with a structure that includes a ground floor, main floor, four landings and a passable roof. It has a stone façade organised in three axes of axial composition around the main door and crowned at the ends with two pinions similar to those used by Gaudí in Calvet House. The ground floor opens onto the street through three large portals where the central one gives access to the neighbours' staircase while the lateral portals correspond to the shops on the ground floor. The balconies of the central axis are simple, with semicircular slabs, while the openings located at the ends of the façade are three-holed, with columns used as handrails and a cantilevered balcony only in the central opening. The work sculpted in stone as well as the design of the iron elements (railings of the balconies, elements of the crown pinions...) must be highlighted. The main entrance gives way to a lobby area richly decorated on both walls and ceilings and to the stairwell with vaults decorated with sgraffitos.
The building facing Aribau Street, is still located on a narrower plot than the previous one, has a rectangular plan with a structure in height that includes a ground floor, main floor, four landings and a passable roof. It has a quilted stone façade organised in two vertical axes of openings. The ground floor opens onto the street through two large portals framed by columns. On the one closest to the chamfer there is the access to the hall and stairwell. The balconies are simple with semicircular slabs except on the main floor and on the third floor, where they are curved. The work of the wrought iron railings stands out. The winding crown has a central trilobed pediment where a shield with the year of construction is placed.
On the ground floor of the corresponding building at 178 Aribau Street is a pharmacy with a set of six semicircular plates, six of which refer to medicinal plants and two to the cup of Hygiea, by an unknown author.