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Intro

About

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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.

Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque
Directors arquitecturacatalana.cat

credits

About us

Project by:

Created by:

Directors:

2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque

Documental 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 Ornaque

Collaborators:

2019-2024 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Maria Jesús Quintero Lucía M. Villodres Montse Viu

External Collaborators:

2019-2024 Helena Cepeda Inès Martinel

With the support of:

Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura

Collaborating Entities:

ArquinFAD

 

Fundació 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.

Design & Development:

edittio Nubilum
Suggestions

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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.

Detail:

* If the memory has known authorship or rights, cite them in the field above 'Comments' .

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Informació bàsica de protecció de dades

Responsable del tractament: Col·legi d Arquitectes de Catalunya 'COAC'
Finalitat del tractament: Tramitar la sol·licitud de còpies digitals dels documents dels quals l’Arxiu Històric del COAC gestiona els drets d'explotació dels autors, a més d'aquells que es trobin en domini públic.
Legitimació del tractament: El seu consentiment per tractar les seves dades personals.
Destinatari de cessions o transferències: El COAC no realitza cessions o transferències internacionals de dades personals.
Drets de les persones interessades: Accedir, rectificar i suprimir les seves dades, així com, l’exercici d’altres drets conforme a l’establert a la informació addicional.
Informació addicional: Pot consultar la informació addicional i detallada sobre protecció de dades en aquest enllaç

How to get there

In Pictures

View all images

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

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  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

  • Palau de la Música Catalana

Memory

The Palau de la Música project is linked to the opening of the Via Laietana, in which Domènech i Montaner himself was strongly involved, and to the founding of the Orfeó Català, in 1891, by the composer Lluís Millet. The Palace is located on the corner of two narrow streets, and the emphasis of the whole project is to penetrate the scant natural light into every corner of the interior through numerous polychrome partitions that recreate a dreamlike atmosphere. The large auditorium is located on the first floor and is accessed via a transverse staircase that divides the entire building into two parts and encourages the use of the ground floor for administrative functions. Domènech decides to treat the façades of the two streets with the same profusion, despite their unequal hierarchy, in a demonstration of his expertise in working in unfavorable locations. The exposed brickwork, the stone worked with musical allegories and the stained glass partitions make the building shine in a special way under the daylight, which penetrates to the large auditorium. Attention to the functional aspects of the program reveals a modern Domènech who understands ornamentation as the necessary culmination of an architectural work.

Author: Maurici Pla

Source: Catalunya : guia d'arquitectura moderna, 1880-2007

In 1905, Domènech was commissioned to build the headquarters of the Orfeó Català, with a concert hall, rehearsal rooms and offices, which would later become the Palau de la Música Catalana.
The Orfeó Català was founded in 1891 as a choral society for the promotion of Catalan music. In 1904, they bought a plot of land in Carrer Sant Pere Més Alt, next to what was to become the Via Laietana, to locate their headquarters. The building was inaugurated on the 15th of February 1908.
The building is located on an irregular site, with two corner façades facing the street. Domènech used an ingenious typological solution to provide symmetry in the large concert hall by creating a courtyard of lights in the dividing wall of the building that looks like a third façade.
The closure of the space with a large skylight in the roof, in the form of an inverted dome, filters the entry of natural light from above and acts as a lamp with artificial light.
The building is resolved with an ingenious metal structure stabilised by lateral buttresses, which is hidden inside the walls, the columns and what used to be the space under the roof.
The whole ensemble shows the integration of the applied arts into the exquisitely crafted architecture.
The muses on the stage, sculpted by Eusebi Arnau, stand out, with their bodies protruding from plans executed in ceramic by Mario Maragliano, and the mouth of the stage, sculpted by Pau Gargallo, presents a spectacular sculptural frame.
The façade is made of exposed brick and many decorative elements in stone and ceramics. The corner is emphasised by a large sculptural ensemble on the first floor by Miquel Blay, and is finished off with a pediment with mosaic by Lluís Bru and a tower with a cupuline.
Although the building was awarded best building of the year 1908 by the Barcelona City Council, years later it fell into disgrace and received much criticism, including calls for it to be demolished.
In 1971, it was declared a National Monument and, in 1997, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Between 1982 and 1990, and then in 2000, it was extensively refurbished. It is still used today as a concert venue and headquarters of the Orfeó Català.

Author: Clàudia Sanmartí

Source: Fundació Domènech i Montaner

Authors

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On the Map

Awarded
Cataloged
Disappeared
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Constellation

Chronology (9)

  1. Palau de la Música Catalana

    Lluís Domènech i Montaner

    Palau de la Música Catalana

    The Palau de la Música project is linked to the opening of the Via Laietana, in which Domènech i Montaner himself was strongly involved, and to the founding of the Orfeó Català, in 1891, by the composer Lluís Millet. The Palace is located on the corner of two narrow streets, and the emphasis of the whole project is to penetrate the scant natural light into every corner of the interior through numerous polychrome partitions that recreate a dreamlike atmosphere. The large auditorium is located on the first floor and is accessed via a transverse staircase that divides the entire building into two parts and encourages the use of the ground floor for administrative functions. Domènech decides to treat the façades of the two streets with the same profusion, despite their unequal hierarchy, in a demonstration of his expertise in working in unfavorable locations. The exposed brickwork, the stone worked with musical allegories and the stained glass partitions make the building shine in a special way under the daylight, which penetrates to the large auditorium. Attention to the functional aspects of the program reveals a modern Domènech who understands ornamentation as the necessary culmination of an architectural work.

  2. Concurs Anual d'Edificis i Establiments Urbans

    Award-Winner / Winner
    Palau de la Música Catalana

    Lluís Domènech i Montaner

  3. Obres de Restauració i Millora del Palau de la Música Catalana - Petit Palau

    Joan Bassegoda i Nonell, Jordi Vilardaga i Roig

  4. FAD Award

    Award-Winner / Winner (ex aequo). Category: Architecture - Remodelling and Rehabilitation
    Remodelling and Extension of the Palau de la Música Catalana

    Carles Díaz Gómez, Oscar Tusquets Blanca

  5. Premi Ciutat de Barcelona

    Award-Winner / Winner. Category: Restauració d'Edificis
    Remodelling and Extension of the Palau de la Música Catalana

    Carles Díaz Gómez, Oscar Tusquets Blanca

  6. FAD Award

    Award-Winner / Winner (opinion). Category: Architecture - Remodelling and Rehabilitation
    Remodelling and Extension of the Palau de la Música Catalana

    Carles Díaz Gómez, Oscar Tusquets Blanca

  7. Remodelling and Extension of the Palau de la Música Catalana

    Carles Díaz Gómez, Oscar Tusquets Blanca

    Remodelling and Extension of the Palau de la Música Catalana

    Our work consisted of rehabilitating, modernising and expanding this universal jewel of Art Nouveau architecture: the auditorium built in 1906 by Domènech i Montaner, which has not ceased to function for this purpose ever since. In the first phase, which lasted for many years, we restored heavily damaged parts of the old building and provided it with health services, accessibility, security and comfort, unthoughtable a century ago. But the most significant contribution was to take advantage of part of the site of the neighbouring unfinished church to open the courtyard as much as possible, until then always hidden and surprisingly solved by Domènech with a wealth similar to that of the main façades, and thus achieve a new access to the Palace. In the extension located next to the stage we placed services for the artists: rehearsal room, changing rooms, dressing rooms, library...

  8. Second Extension of the Palau de la Música Catalana - Petit Palau

    Carles Díaz Gómez, Oscar Tusquets Blanca

    Second Extension of the Palau de la Música Catalana - Petit Palau

    Ten years after the first intervention, the total relocation of the neighbouring church was achieved, which made possible our most important contribution to the monument: to grant a new façade to the Palau, completely opening the rich side courtyard of Domènech to the new square. He dreamt of an exempt building and we, a century later, made his dream come true. Just as on the north side of the square we had erected a building for the musicians (dressing rooms, library ...), on the south side we had erected one for the public and the music school. And under the new square a room for 540 spectators equipped with new technologies that the Palau needed so much.

  9. EU Mies Award

    Nominated
    Second Extension of the Palau de la Música Catalana - Petit Palau

    Carles Díaz Gómez, Oscar Tusquets Blanca

Archive (7)

  • Perspectiva de la façana del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Drawing

    Perspectiva de la façana del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Fons Lluís Domènech i Montaner / Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Perspectiva de la façana del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Drawing

    Perspectiva de la façana del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Fons Lluís Domènech i Montaner / Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Cianotipo de perspectiva de la façana del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Graphic Material

    Cianotipo de perspectiva de la façana del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Fons Lluís Domènech i Montaner / Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Esbós del grup escultòric de l'escenari del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Drawing

    Esbós del grup escultòric de l'escenari del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Fons Lluís Domènech i Montaner / Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Esbós detall d'ornamentació de la façana del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Drawing

    Esbós detall d'ornamentació de la façana del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Fons Lluís Domènech i Montaner / Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Esbós del mosaic i grup escultòric de l'escenari del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Drawing

    Esbós del mosaic i grup escultòric de l'escenari del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Fons Lluís Domènech i Montaner / Arxiu Històric del COAC

  • Esbós del grup escultòric de l'escenari del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Drawing

    Esbós del grup escultòric de l'escenari del Palau de la Música Catalana.

    Fons Lluís Domènech i Montaner / Arxiu Històric del COAC

Audiovisual

  • L’Orfeó Català, l’origen del Palau de la Música - Va passar aquí | betevé

    5:00

    L’Orfeó Català, l’origen del Palau de la Música - Va passar aquí | betevé

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