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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 old Can Surís factory was built around 1897 and is listed in the Architectural Heritage Protection Catalogue of Cornellà de Llobregat, due to its historical and typological value. It is located in Plaça de Can Surís, s/n in Cornellà de Llobregat, next to the old road that linked the towns of Cornellà de Llobregat and Sant Joan Despí, in an area of recent urbanisation and remodelling, with the passage of the new TramBaix train.
The building was unoccupied and abandoned, empty of any type of pre-existing facilities, and in a process of accelerated degradation due to lack of maintenance.
The work was carried out in three phases between 2001 and 2009.
The first phase included the complete refurbishment of part of the structure, the façades and the roof, and the renovation of another part of the structure, to be used as a public facility, but without a clear specific programme. This first project included new vertical communication spaces – main staircase, lifts and emergency stairs –, services and facilities for an unspecified programme, but which required a high degree of flexibility on the different floors.
The second phase developed the programme of use on the ground and first floors, with the necessary interior fittings, as well as the specific fixed furniture.
The project envisaged the provision of the necessary spaces to develop the programme of the new Citizen Innovation Centre for the Knowledge Society, in its sections: social dissemination-dissemination (ground floor), polytechnic learning-development (first floor) and finally digital-media realisation-production (second floor), which would be executed in the third phase. This programme called for a high degree of flexibility on the different floors in order to be able to adapt over time to the introduction of new technological developments.
The access was reinforced with the construction of a double-height linear porch attached to the main façade that allows a friendlier reading of an industrial building, while serving as a filter between the activity container and the exterior access and leisure space.
This steel and glass pergola contrasts with the solid brickwork and gives the building a new, more contemporary image; its placement reinforces the reading of the building and responds to the new use for which it is intended.
The entrance leads to the foyer which is developed in the triple height of the building. This way, on entering, the character of the JOSEP M. JULIÀ public building is recognised and the magnitude of the three floors of the new centre can be glimpsed.
The third phase of the refurbishment of the former Can Surís factory included the completion of the complete refurbishment of the second and ground floors, in terms of the interior divisions, services, finishes and all the installations necessary to use it for the extension of the Citilab-Cornellà public facilities. The project for these upper floors developed the new digital art programme in its realisation and production sections, and includes two sets of different sizes for multiple uses.
Julià Arquitectes Associats (JAAS), Josep Maria Julià i Capdevila
Julià Arquitectes Associats (JAAS), Josep Maria Julià i Capdevila