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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 Barcelona pier is the south-west boundary between the Port Vell area (port transformed into an urban space) and the industrial port. The pier, 630 by 170 metres, is currently used by cruise lines and regular lines with the Balearic Islands. The dimensions and design of the promenade are in relation to the geometry of the World Trade Center building, located at one end of the pier, and the underground car park.
The WTCB is a large volume of four buildings with an inverted frustoconical envelope. A plinth formed by two passenger terminals frames the tower of the Montjuïc cable car, one of the landscape landmarks of the port.
A platform connects the new buildings with the city. The central promenade reserved for pedestrians is framed by the roads where the vehicles traveling to the WTCB and the parking ramps travel. At the urban end of the pier, an elliptical roundabout connects to the city's pedestrian and road circuit. In order to filter the presence of the large building in relation to the pier, the promenade tries to relate to the port's landscape context.
The granite pavement is laid out in transversal strips, connecting the central promenade and the side sidewalks, and is structured by means of a grid of slats and parterres that make up several areas: one in the centre, with a linear route, and two on the sides, of a more static character.
The vegetation and the lighting are drawn in two frames that articulate the platform. There is a main plot of medium-sized trees, gleditsias triacanthos plants from every 8 and 11 m, with date palms here and there. At the ends of the promenade, the tall casuarinas mingle with the palm trees according to a syncopated rhythm. Finally, there is a regular arrangement of small trees, parkinsonia aculeata, which introduce areas of shade and changing colours throughout the year. The lighting elements (stainless steel columns with angled arms that project light in various directions) are located throughout the platform and create a transparent ceiling over the promenade while shading the presence of the large building.