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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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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
The "farmhouse" is the result of the refurbishment and rehabilitation of an existing industrial building. In 1907, the firm Freixa i Sans decided to build a new building for the manufacture of alpacas. Muncunill preserves the structure of the old factory in its entirety and operates a job of superimposing new elements. Flat brick vaults supported by braces on brick bands rest on the old walls. In addition, the wall is bent on the inner side for the placement of doors and windows. The rest of the interventions tend to substantially modify the visual effect produced by the building. The walls are plastered white. On the south side the great gallery is opened, formed by a succession of parabolic arches, in eight sections, on a wide pavement that draws wavy shapes. Each section is covered by a small dome tuned to those covering the central sector. A large arch closes this gallery on the west side, covered by a dome that stands out from the others. Later, two more floors were added, destined for the kitchen and service rooms.
Isolated building with an almost rectangular floor plan, with a ground floor and a higher central body. It consists of ground floor, floor and attic. It also has a lookout tower in the north corner.
It was built using a succession of parabolic arches in the Gaudí style, with a porch gallery and a monumental catenary arch on the western façade. In fact, the parabolic arch is the main character of the entire work since it is present in all the openings of the building as well as in in its interior.
For the façade, Muncunill decided to apply a rustic wall marking the openings with exposed brick applications. The most significant element of the façade is the south gallery, with parabolic arches that evoke the sunrooms of Catalan farmhouses.
The vault is partitioned with parabolic domes plastered with mortar mixed with mosaic and small glass. The work is stuccoed in white and has a glazed ceramic plinth that follows the sinuous lines of the building. The sinuosity is also reflected in the exterior pavement that surrounds the building.
The interior is also solved with parabolic arches and concentric undulations in the plaster ceilings. The ceiling of the dining room is decorated with reliefs and channels. The carpentry is varnished poplar, and the corners are always rounded. It is of high quality and shows floral themes very unusual in the architect's designs. An elliptical roundabout was added in the "rope handle" style. The modernist interior was transformed with classicist decoration in 1919. For its distribution, Muncunill started from rural inspiration by replacing the entrance room, characteristic of homes located in the urban plot, with a room distributing spaces that also appears on the upper floor.
To separate the lower room from the dining room, Muncunill placed three carpentry-glass windows. The entrance to the dining room is through the central one and the two smaller side ones serve as a clock case and as a light entrance. In the southern part of the tower is the access staircase that communicates with a room that distributes the upper dependencies.
Regarding the gardens, they have an Italian influence and reproductions of classic statues, such as Donatello's Sant Jordi, which gave its name to the current park.
At the end of the 19th century, Mr and Mrs. Freixa i Sans built an industrial unit on the other side of the stream (respecting the Palau), which was under construction in 1900, intended for the manufacture of alpaca (fabrics). Due to its perhaps premeditated evolution, the nave became a residence: a porch was added and the interior was transformed according to the canons of "modern style". The architect Lluís Muncunill participated in the construction, but Gaudí’s style was no longer fully applied to the rotunda of the building.
After the European war, Italian sculptures were imported and the Renaissance temple in the garden was installed. In 1936 the farmhouse was seized to install the New Unified School, until 1939. In 1958 the Terrassa City Council bought the property, of more than 20,000m2, and in 1959 the Parc de Sant Jordi was inaugurated.
It was home to the Professional Conservatory of Music, but since 2003, when this centre was moved to Miquel Vives Street, it has remained closed, being occasionally used as a polling station. Some time ago (February 2005) some signs of deterioration began to appear (moisture, cracks), which has raised the alarm, although it seems that they do not affect the structure. Finally, the Terrassa City Council has turned the building into a House-Museum and it also houses the Tourist Office.
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