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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
Sert introduced the concept of minimal housing and divided the floor plan of this building into four apartments per landing, two facing the façade and two facing the courtyard of the block. This solution represented a radical break with the usual layouts in the Cerdà expansion, which prioritised the main façade facing the street and relegated the façade facing the inner courtyard of the block to the background. In this way, he managed to reduce the number of small interior patios to a minimum and made it easier for most of the rooms to be ventilated directly through the façade. As the plan is symmetrical in both directions, the two façades are exactly the same. The original project contemplated the construction of two symmetrical buildings, although only the first one was built. The repetition of these two buildings between partitions generated the image of a unitary block, which was an expression of serial construction and machine culture. Originally, the ground floor was raised on stilts and defined a porch that contained a covered passage for the entry and exit of vehicles to the workshops inside the block, but, currently, this ground floor has been closed to incorporate shops. The result is a cubic volume, with a strip of shadow produced by the openings of the terraces that contrasts with the white colour of the stucco and the flat treatment of the façade.