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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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
About us
Project by: 
Created by: 
Directors:
2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar OrnaqueDocumental Commission:
2019-2024 Ramon Faura Carolina B. Garcia Eduard Callís Francesc Rafat Pau Albert Antoni López Daufí Joan Falgueras Mercè Bosch Jaume Farreny Anton Pàmies Juan Manuel Zaguirre Josep Ferrando Fernando Marzá Moisés Puente Aureli Mora Omar OrnaqueCollaborators:
2019-2024 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Maria Jesús Quintero Lucía M. Villodres Montse ViuExternal Collaborators:
2019-2024 Helena Cepeda Inès MartinelWith the support of:
Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de CulturaCollaborating Entities:
ArquinFADFundació Mies van der Rohe
Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico
Basílica de la Sagrada Família
Museu del Disseny de Barcelona
Fomento
AMB
EINA Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona
IEFC
Fundació Domènench Montaner.
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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.
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Memory
Building between partitions occupying the corner between Via Laietana and Carrer Joan Massana. Both façades are articulated by means of the polygonal tower located on the corner. The block on Carrer Joan Massana has a ground floor, a mezzanine and five floors, while the tower and the block on Via Laietana have an additional floor.
The façade on Via Laietana is very narrow. On the ground floor there is a large rectangular opening which corresponds to a commercial premises, and the facing is plain. On the mezzanine there are three windows separated by pillars that give the appearance of a large continuous window; all three are supported by a moulded sill and the rest of the wall is smooth. On the first four floors there are doors separated by pillars that open onto balconies with a stone base and iron railing; here the furnishings draw horizontal lines and the fourth level is finished off with a plain cornice. On the fifth floor there are two windows and the facing is plain, but the upper part is finished as if it were a large capital of a pilaster. The top level is half hidden by the decoration of the lower floor – it has a large horizontal window and the wall is finished with a moulded cornice.
The façade on Carrer Joan Massana is much longer and is divided into three parts. The two lateral ones are similar to the façade of the Via Laietana and the central one has small balconies along three longitudinal axes and a smooth wall. The large cornice in the shape of a capital runs along the three sections, thus unifying the façade.
The corner tower is in the shape of a half hexagon. The ground floor and mezzanine have similar characteristics to others, but in the central part there is a large relief by Joan Rebull, entitled Bañistas (Bathers), with allegorical motifs of the navy. On the first floor there is a polygonal tribune on each side of the tower, and on the upper floors there is a small balcony per floor, except on the top floor where there is a window with a moulded sill. The tower is crowned with the same capital cornice as the side façades.
This building belongs to a period in which Antoni Puig i Gairalt was moving away from Noucentisme to adopt international Art Déco formulas that gradually brought him closer to rationalism.
In the original project, the house was to be painted apple green, but the Town Council objected, considering it too extravagant. It was then painted blue and yellow, colours that were restored in 2016.
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