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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 original building is by the architect Josep Ros i Ros, who had already evolved from Modernism towards more contained and sober Noucentisme projects, takes on a character of great volumetric forcefulness for being an isolated building with a ground floor and three floors, the latter being designed as a gallery with a large barbican supported by beams. The gable roof is covered by Arabic tile. As it is an isolated building, the entire perimeter is conceived as a façade, both those facing the street and those facing the interior of the property. The perimeter is also protected by the inclusion of a fence that in what would be the main façade is based on iron splinters alternating with pillars and with the characteristic balls. The façade designed for visitors facing a small garden with a staircase, porch and a mixed gable that recalls vernacular architecture and houses a ceramic pediment with the decorative drawing of grapes and cava glasses, as well as the name of the brand, “Cavas Freixenet” stands out.
Regarding the composition and treatment of the rest of the façades, the interplay of voids and fillings follows a symmetrical distribution with openings spaced apart and others with oval openings. Corresponding to the axes of symmetry we find balconies with iron beams on the first floor. The entire façade is stuccoed, except for the wide plinth treated in rustic walling. And with respect to the limits of each façade, there is the application of the quilting of stone ashlars that increase the sobriety of the whole and are in tune with the access openings based on semi-circular arches with stone voussoirs.
It is an industrial complex dedicated to the exploitation and production of wine, with the brand "Freixenet, S.A.". As a production centre it was founded in 1861 and it was in 1914 when the production of sparkling wine began. Following the Barcelona International Exhibition, in 1929, they created a well-known icon with the so-called "Freixenet boy"; created by a German designer by order of Pere Ferrer Bosch, founder of the company.