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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 Moral de Gràcia Centre is located in the block in the Gràcia district which is bounded by Ros de Olano, Gran de Gràcia, Montseny and Pere Serafí streets. It is the headquarters of a 19th-century cultural association. It has a single exterior façade facing Carrer Ros de Olano, where the main entrance is located. The building has an L-shaped floor plan and a long corridor that connects the side rooms on the right and the back of the plot, where there is a small theatre. The building consists of a ground floor plus two upper floors.
The façade has a composition of openings with three vertical axes, the central one being the protagonist as it has the balcony and the largest opening. It has a ground floor with very vertical openings framed with exposed brick, like most of the façade. There are segmental arches over the windows and a bell-shaped arch over the entrance doorway.
On the first floor there is a central balcony with an oval slab formed by five courses of exposed brick, cantilevered one above the other. This balcony is completed with a wrought iron railing and an unloaded opening with a brick book arch, a solution also used in other smaller openings, such as the series that make up the gallery on the first floor.
The roof is flat with a roof terrace, from which a penthouse rises in line with the façade. The perimeter of the façade is also a brick wall that acts as a railing and is decorated with brick elements resembling battlements.
Artistically, the brickwork stands out, as it uses a very careful technique to resolve all the elements of the façade with this single material: arches, framing, waterbreaks and finials.
The complex wrought-iron railings on the balconies and the iron supports for the flags should also be noted.
The building is considered of the Catalan Art Nouveau style because of the decorations and the dominance of the use of brick and iron. Within this trend, the type of façade composition has a medievalist influence due to the prevalence of decorations rather than a more austere style and the battlements at the top.
Francesc d'Assís Berenguer i Mestres