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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 La Plana Sports Centre was built between 1958 and 1960 to cover and fit out existing sports facilities, the headquarters of the Joventut de Badalona basketball club. Today it is a Municipal Sports Centre where various sporting activities are held.
The complex consists of two main bodies with different uses, which can be clearly distinguished on the main façade, facing the Plaça de la Plana. On the right side there is a building of smaller dimensions formed by a vertical communications nucleus which gives access to the area where the administration areas of the pavilion are located, situated in the curved corner of the building. These are illuminated by a horizontal strip of windows on each floor that continues along the side façade around the corner.
The rest, and most of the surface area of the complex, corresponds to the basketball court. It is a simpler façade that grows in a staggered manner, with a number of smaller side bays containing the stands and other services such as toilets, as well as a central body with large openings formed by a structure of arched concrete beams that can only be seen on the inside.
As for the style of the complex, it can be clearly included in the rationalist movement that spread throughout Catalonia during these years, and which can be seen, above all, in the side building. This can be seen in the horizontality of the façade composition, with a smooth finish, accentuated by the continuity of the windows in the curved corner of the building, as well as a ground floor which, although not completely open, only leaves the pillar structure opaque and fills the openings with openings of pavé-type glass blocks.