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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
In 1896, Domènech made some alterations to the Casa de l'Ardiaca, as the headquarters of the the Lawyers’ Association of Barcelona. He adapted the staircase leading to the Renaissance door and refurbished some of the rooms, designing the furniture. In 1902 he intervened again.
The best known intervention is the marble letterbox at the entrance, the work of Alfons Juyol commissioned by Domènech himself, with several allegories: ivy leaves/bureaucracy, swallows in flight/the swiftness that justice should have, tortoise/the real slowness that justice has, and the coat of arms of the Lawyers’ Association.
The Casa de l’Ardiaca is a 12th century building built on the Roman walls, which in the Gothic period was a palace and incorporated Renaissance elements. In 1870, a major refurbishment designed by the architect Josep Garriga annexed it to the Dean's house and built the current courtyard.
Domènech intervened on this building renovated by Garriga to decorate the assembly hall and other rooms.
He also intervened by placing the wrought-iron luminaires in the courtyard (which no longer exist).
The intervention that is documented in the building permit, with his signature, is the adaptation of the access through some steps at the entrance door.
In 1922 it was remodelled by Josep Goday to house the Museum of the History of Barcelona, and in 1990 it was remodelled again by the B01 team and now houses the Historical Archive of the City of Barcelona.
Very few elements of Domènech's renovation work remain.
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B01 Arquitectes, Roser Amadó i Cercós, Lluís Domènech i Girbau