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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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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: 
Created by: 
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
The two residential buildings stand next to Vapor Sampere, a significant example of Sabadell's industrial architecture, built at the beginning of the 20th century to supply energy to the looms that populated the city. The project aims to improve the quality of the interior block space, as well as the volumetric relationship between the new buildings and the factory complex.
The building is staggered from its maximum height in the Tres Creus/Sallarès i Pla chamfer, with seven floors, until reaching four floors when it comes into contact with Vapor Sampere in Turull Street. Towards the interior, tilted to the south and enjoying the best views, the buildings open up like a broken polygonal, turning the space between the buildings and the steam into a large semi-public enclosure, with views towards the steam.
The obvious differences in the environmental conditions to which the proposal must respond generate a clear differentiation between its exterior, overturned in Tres Creus, and its interior, where the vocation for privacy and calm is present.
The exterior façades, with a clear massive character, are built in brick, treated in a different way as it rises in height, with gaps cut into them arranged with the intention of avoiding monotony.
Towards the south the façades are lighter, solved with extensible wooden shutters that evoke the enclosures of the inner courtyards, typical of the Cerdà area in Barcelona, which protect some exterior galleries from the sun.
It is this duality between envelopes that explains the homes’ ground plan: the bedrooms and bathrooms are towards the outside following a rigorous layout, while towards the interior, oriented to the south and to the views, the more habitable spaces are overturned: living room, dining room and kitchen, with a much freer arrangement, linked to the polygon that defines the façade.
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Vapor Sampere Factory Building
The project completes a block occupied by the remains of the Vapor Sampere, one of the main examples of early 20th century industrial architecture in Sabadell. The volumetry of the building and the treatment of the façades are determined by the different conditions of the surroundings. The maximum height is at the Tres Creus/Sallarès i Pla corner, and the minimum height is in Carrer Turull. Towards the south side, with the best views of the Vapor, the building opens up with a broken diagonal that transforms the interior space into a semi-public enclosure. The exterior façade combines the layout of the exposed brick, the windows and the skylights of the stairwells to break the monotony. Once the volumetry and skin have been defined, the dwellings have living rooms on the south side, enclosed with wooden projecting blinds that shade the sunlight and allow the use of the outdoor galleries almost all year round. -
Rehabilitation of Vapor Sampere and New Dwellings
Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, José Rafael Moneo Vallés, Elías Torres Tur
The two residential buildings stand next to Vapor Sampere, a significant example of Sabadell's industrial architecture, built at the beginning of the 20th century to supply energy to the looms that populated the city. The project aims to improve the quality of the interior block space, as well as the volumetric relationship between the new buildings and the factory complex. The building is staggered from its maximum height in the Tres Creus/Sallarès i Pla chamfer, with seven floors, until reaching four floors when it comes into contact with Vapor Sampere in Turull Street. Towards the interior, tilted to the south and enjoying the best views, the buildings open up like a broken polygonal, turning the space between the buildings and the steam into a large semi-public enclosure, with views towards the steam. The obvious differences in the environmental conditions to which the proposal must respond generate a clear differentiation between its exterior, overturned in Tres Creus, and its interior, where the vocation for privacy and calm is present. The exterior façades, with a clear massive character, are built in brick, treated in a different way as it rises in height, with gaps cut into them arranged with the intention of avoiding monotony. Towards the south the façades are lighter, solved with extensible wooden shutters that evoke the enclosures of the inner courtyards, typical of the Cerdà area in Barcelona, which protect some exterior galleries from the sun. It is this duality between envelopes that explains the homes’ ground plan: the bedrooms and bathrooms are towards the outside following a rigorous layout, while towards the interior, oriented to the south and to the views, the more habitable spaces are overturned: living room, dining room and kitchen, with a much freer arrangement, linked to the polygon that defines the façade. -
EU Mies Award
NominatedRehabilitation of Vapor Sampere and New DwellingsMartínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, José Rafael Moneo Vallés, Elías Torres Tur