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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 school building is isolated and consists of two identical structures, each with two floors and a hip roof, with two hydrias on the ridge. Originally, each one was intended for boys and girls separately. Both structures are joined by another structure with a ground floor and a rooftop. The roof structure is made of reinforced concrete with formwork on which the wooden beams and trusses rest. The façades are stuccoed, with the window lintels decorated with sgraffito geometric and floral motifs.
The façades contain Noucentista elements: on the east and west sides of the classroom blocks there is an entrance portal protected by a porch covered with Arabic tiles and supported by two columns with Doric capitals; the south side has a porch with three columns and Ionic capitals and is crowned with the coat of arms of Capellades.
The driving force behind the construction was Balbina Mas i Santacana, Marchioness of Pobla de Claramunt, who handed the school over to the local council after its inauguration on 14th May 1933. The building was extended in 1970 and restored in 2000.
The architect Sugrañes finished his degree in 1907, but did not obtain his title until 1912. He was Antoni Gaudí's assistant on the Sagrada Familia and became the director of the works after his death in 1926.
The first project for a state school in Capellades was undertaken by Jeroni Martorell Terrats in 1923, but it was never built.