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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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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: 
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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
Between 1890 and 1891, the architect Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia built two adjacent palaces on lots number 2 and 4 of Passeig de Gràcia for Mr. Sebastià Pascual and for his brother-in-law D. Alexandre Pons. The obvious contact between both owners allowed Sagnier to build the two buildings with obvious organisational but, above all, stylistic connections.
During the years until the start of the project, there were many works of varying significance that were carried out, leaving countless scars on the building. Despite the unfortunate state of the building, the Barcelona City Council has it listed in its catalog of buildings to preserve because of its testimonial value of Catalan modernism.
Things being this way, they decided to draw up the expansion, rehabilitation and transformation project.
The main features of this extensive and complex intervention were, firstly, to unify the two old palaces in a single building, the access of which is from Passeig de Gràcia. The scope of this unification is to remodel the vertical accesses, elevators and stairs, around a courtyard of light that is one of the points of greatest interest in the project. Secondly, to undertake the works to rejuvenate the constructive system of the building. Thirdly, the 5th floor is extended over the old roof, taking advantage of the opening under the barbican. The introduction of the gallery in the rencontre between the façade and the roof tends to improve the slenderness of the building.
The criteria for restoring the façade are various: reintegrate the pinnacle with an orthogonal base, repair all the deteriorated elements, replace some Gothic windows that were mutilated and integrate into the configuration scheme the façades built on the old platforms of Casp Street and Ronda Universitat as of the openings on the ground floor once the commercial character of these has been consolidated.
We wanted to maintain the duality between the old and modern building with the coexistence of the original hall on the ground floor, executed in Montjuic stone and stucco, with the vertical patio built with white concrete understood as a version of technological stone, and to restore the few pieces of the first floor that have managed to survive to this day. The light fixture in the old lobby was designed by Miguel Milá.
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Chronology (5)
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Pascual i Pons Palace
Passeig de Gràcia, the axis of the modern Barcelona that emerged from the application of the urban expansion plan designed by the engineer Ildefons Cerdà, has a very singular beginning thanks to these two sister houses, which also benefit from the perspective from the neighbouring Plaça Catalunya, the city centre. As in other cases, they are two independent blocks of flats, for two members of the same family, resolved with a unitary image. Unusually, however, Sagnier gives the ensemble a purely neo-Gothic appearance which was normally only applied to religious architecture but not to civil architecture. In both blocks, the main floor was reserved for the private residence of the owners, with independent access via a staircase of honour; the rest of the floors were for rented dwellings, which were accessed by another entrance. The interiors were enriched with German furniture and contributions from craftsmen and artists, including the stained glass windows of the Rigalt i Granell house and the tapestries painted by Alexandre de Riquer. It was Riquer, Sagnier's colleague in the Cercle de Sant Lluc association of Catholic artists, who years later decorated one of the shops on the ground floor, specifically the one that overlooked the Ronda de Sant Pere, which was known as Granja Catalana (Catalan Farm). We do not know whether the architect was responsible for the design of this space. On the other hand, some sources of the time attribute to him the Comas shirt shop, which was on the corner and which in 1913 won one of the Barcelona City Council's annual prizes in the category of establishments. Severely damaged over the years, the double building was remodelled in 1984 by the architects Martorell-Bohigas-Mackay and Espinet-Ubach, who tried to restore the original appearance of the exterior, enhancing the urban impact while preserving some of the decorative elements, such as the staircase of honour, the stained-glass windows, etc. -
Rehabilitation of Pascual i Pons Palace
Espinet/Ubach, Arquitectes i Associats, MBM Arquitectes, Oriol Bohigas i Guardiola, Miquel Espinet i Mestre, David Mackay, Josep Maria Martorell i Codina, Antoni Ubach i Nuet
Between 1890 and 1891, the architect Enric Sagnier i Villavecchia built two adjacent palaces on lots number 2 and 4 of Passeig de Gràcia for Mr. Sebastià Pascual and for his brother-in-law D. Alexandre Pons. The obvious contact between both owners allowed Sagnier to build the two buildings with obvious organisational but, above all, stylistic connections. During the years until the start of the project, there were many works of varying significance that were carried out, leaving countless scars on the building. Despite the unfortunate state of the building, the Barcelona City Council has it listed in its catalog of buildings to preserve because of its testimonial value of Catalan modernism. Things being this way, they decided to draw up the expansion, rehabilitation and transformation project. The main features of this extensive and complex intervention were, firstly, to unify the two old palaces in a single building, the access of which is from Passeig de Gràcia. The scope of this unification is to remodel the vertical accesses, elevators and stairs, around a courtyard of light that is one of the points of greatest interest in the project. Secondly, to undertake the works to rejuvenate the constructive system of the building. Thirdly, the 5th floor is extended over the old roof, taking advantage of the opening under the barbican. The introduction of the gallery in the rencontre between the façade and the roof tends to improve the slenderness of the building. The criteria for restoring the façade are various: reintegrate the pinnacle with an orthogonal base, repair all the deteriorated elements, replace some Gothic windows that were mutilated and integrate into the configuration scheme the façades built on the old platforms of Casp Street and Ronda Universitat as of the openings on the ground floor once the commercial character of these has been consolidated. We wanted to maintain the duality between the old and modern building with the coexistence of the original hall on the ground floor, executed in Montjuic stone and stucco, with the vertical patio built with white concrete understood as a version of technological stone, and to restore the few pieces of the first floor that have managed to survive to this day. The light fixture in the old lobby was designed by Miguel Milá. -
FAD Award
Award-Winner / Winner. Category: RestorationRehabilitation of Pascual i Pons PalaceEspinet/Ubach, Arquitectes i Associats, MBM Arquitectes, Oriol Bohigas i Guardiola, Miquel Espinet i Mestre, David Mackay, Josep Maria Martorell i Codina, Antoni Ubach i Nuet