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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
"La Bombonera" is located on a small plot with a single façade on the promenade, which induces Raspall to exploit the elements on a small scale and to combine the small dimensions of the house with an unreal and dematerialised image. Raspall makes the white colour of the wall coverings play with the green colour of the doors and windows and the navy blue of the sgraffito borders, with very smooth designs. The house follows the same configuration as other seasonal houses in Raspall, with the staircase topped by the tower. At the entrance door there is a unique wrought iron lantern unique in the work of Raspall, which will be repeated later in the house built in 1914 for Manuel Maresma.
La Bombonera (1910) was built with some modifications compared to the initial project. At first it consisted of a semi-basement and ground floor. Later, a covered floor was added and a tower was erected. The house is structured around a patio. The base or plinth of the building is made of more or less irregular stone, covered by a green ceramic border with smooth and raised pieces. The rest of the façade is stuccoed in green and white. A powerful balustrade cornice (under which there is a sgraffito border and above it a wrought iron railing) crowns the primitive building. Likewise, the openings are framed by sgraffitos of a delicate floral pattern. The bookcase blinds also have fine floral motifs. It is the first time that Raspall uses semicircular, elliptical arches and an oval opening. On the west side it has a tribune or gallery with stained-glass windows. It was built at the same time as the Iris Tower or shortly after. La Bombonera was restored in 1990.
The "Mansana Raspall" is a unique set in the history of modernist architecture in our country: it consists of four isolated buildings, located on the same block of houses, built by the architect Manuel Joaquim Raspall between 1910 and 1913. The four buildings have an obvious stylistic unity, reinforced by the garden fences, which use the same language: irregular stone, mosaic and wrought iron, with sinuous lines. The Raspall Houses are very representative of the work of the first stage of this architect, who belongs to the second generation of modernist architects, and are the gateway to the long Passeig de Plàtans, where there are the most modernist buildings important of the population.
The promoters of the Barbey and Barraquer houses were prominent members of the Barcelona bourgeoisie, who had them built as second homes. La Bombonera and the Iris Tower were built by Cecília Reig Argelagós, from La Garriga, who rented them out as a second residence.
Set Illa Raspall