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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
Isolated building surrounded by a garden. Rectangular in plan, consisting of ground floor, floor and attic, covered with a roof on two sides. The main façade has a gable with a sinuous profile where the date of construction is found, decorated with floral motifs. Adjacent to the façade there is a tower covered with polychrome tiles, where abundant modernist-style decoration is concentrated, with both floral and animal motifs. There is a large clock with a dragon and floral elements, as well as the name of the house, which is also decorated.
Stately home built in 1906. It was given to the current owners, the missionaries of Nazareth, after the end of the Civil War, by its owner Mr. Font.
Villa Francisca is a modernist style tower built at the beginning of the 20th century. It is a quadrangular building with a quadrangular tower attached to the west end of the south façade. It consists of ground floor, floor and attic and has a two-sided roof with a perpendicular ridge to the façade. The tower has four levels of height and has a roof on four sides. The openings of the construction are partly straight and partly curved arches, some with decorative awnings, while those on the upper level are of smaller dimensions and are grouped in the form of a gallery. At one end of the west façade there are external stairs attached, with a stone pillar decorated with plants that lead to an entrance door, located to the north. On this last façade, a polygonal body is attached to the upper part as a passable terrace. The south façade presents two horizontal galleries with three porticoes with a lowered arch, ceramic on the ground floor and plastered on the floor. The porches on the ground floor, where there is an access portal, are closed with a wrought-iron gate. The west and east façades are topped by a remarkable sinuous gable decorated at the ends with acanthus leaves. The eaves are finished with gables and the roof of the tower has glazed ceramics. The external treatment of the walls is plastered and painted with a stone plinth, as well as vegetal sgraffitos on the west end and on the tower, where it says "YEAR 1906", "VILLA FRANCISCA" and a sundial, respectively. On the ground floor, several modernist decorative elements are preserved, such as the stained-glass windows and openings with floral motifs, the wrought-iron staircase railing, the mosaic floors and the fireplace. The house is surrounded by a large garden, where the original portal and a farmhouse are preserved.
It was built by Mr. Ignasi Font, who gave it to the Congregation of the Missionaries of the Holy Family of Nazareth after the Civil War. It then became known as "El Pilar" and was used to house destitute girls. Later, it was destined for spiritual exercises. After being unoccupied for a few years, in 2007 it was renovated to be used as a dormitory.
It is also known as the House of the Missionaries of Nazareth, Can Font, the Llobeta Tower or the Llobeta Convent.