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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
Barcelona's Roman temple dedicated to Augustus was located at the top of Mount Taber, and part of its remains were embedded in medieval constructions. In 1903 Domènech renovated the building as the headquarters of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya.
Despite several studies of the temple, many elements were lost in the rubble of the old houses at the end of the 19th century. In 1879, an entire column was saved and displayed in the Plaça del Rei.
Three other columns were found inside the medieval building that housed the old cathedral canons' manor house, embedded between several slabs. This building was rented in 1878 by the Associació Catalana d'Excursions Científiques (Catalan Association of Scientific Excursions), now known as the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya.
In 1902, the publisher Ramon de Montaner, Lluís Domènech's uncle, bought the entire building. His initial intention was to take the columns and integrate them into the Castle of Santa Florentina. But they finally changed his mind, and he commissioned his nephew to refurbish the building as the headquarters of the Centre Excursionista de Catalunya.
The intervention consisted mainly of remodelling the interior of the building to leave the Roman columns exposed, fully visible in an interior courtyard protected by a skylight. A new staircase was built to access the main floor and a gallery to connect the two sides of the courtyard, reinterpreting the Gothic style.
The opening of large windows and the replacement of the stone railings with light metallic elements was done with the aim of giving greater visibility to the columns from inside the rooms.
Domènech left the space prepared for the fourth column found, which was on display in the Plaça del Rei, but bureaucracy did not allow it to be repositioned. Finally, in 1956, when Barcelona City Council had already bought the building, it was moved.
It is still the headquarters of the CEC today.
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