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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 built by Cèrsar Martinell consists of a large rectangular nave, for vats and processing room, and a porticoed body, attached to one side of the main façade, without a dividing wall, where underground tanks, hoppers and the reception dock were installed. To cover the building, flat brick vaults were used, in the shape of an eggshell with three thicknesses of tile and arranged at different levels to leave openings between them. These vaults were plastered with Portland cement, like those in Gandesa. These vaults were also used as platforms to support the surface tanks, distributed in two rows on each side of the ship. The roof rested on large parabolic arches with eaves relieved by pilasters that covered the lower vaults.
The façade was formed by a large blind parabolic arch, on the ground floor of which the door opened in a lowered brick arch, while on the opposite façade there was a large window with five vertical openings and closed in a raised arch.
Located to the west of the monastic complex, this winery, commissioned to the architect Cèsar Martinell, was built from 1921. Already in 1916, the Agricultural Union and Caixa Rural had been founded. In January 1921, the Sant Medir Winery Union and Caixa Rural was founded, made up of tenants, sharecroppers and middle owners. The architect designed a large cellar of which, however, only a part was built and he left the rest for later.
In 1936, the winery had to merge with the other cooperative entities of the town. In 1939, when the national troops entered, the union's patrimony was confiscated, which was not recovered until 1945 under the name Cooperativa Vitivinícola de Sant Cugat del Vallès. The decade of the 1950s meant the maximum splendour of the winery, in which the maximum production of wine was reached. In the Martinell building, three naves had been added without any architectural interest. From the 1960s, the organisation took a step back, becoming a bottling and marketing plant for various agricultural products. This went on until 1992, when part of the old Martinell winery was ceded to the city council. In 1994, the three new naves were demolished.