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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
Set of two isolated blocks with a single staircase and two apartments per landing each, located in a triangular block in Barcelona. The two blocks are arranged perpendicular to each other but without touching, leaving a space free for a community garden, with a play area for children. This solution forms an open block that follows the postulates of the Modern Movement when it proposes a resolved urban fabric with an isolated building, since it improves ventilation and lighting, and allows the urban space to be defined without closing it off. But, in this case, the block has fences and its approach is isolated from the rest of the city. The buildings look like two Unités d'Habitation by Le Corbusier. They are raised on concrete piles that generate a dark grey painted porch, with a sloping ceiling to hide the facilities. The upper volumes are painted beige and the stairwells are finished off by a Catalan-style ceramic tile vault. The façades are different depending on their orientation and location: those facing the garden have the best orientation and are made up of terraces from one end to the other, while the façades on the end walls and those facing the street are completely flat and are perforated by a variety of holes that turns them into a very expressive canvas. The stairwells are illuminated with cobblestones that further diversify and enrich the texture of the façade.