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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
This 19th century building, an old building of the Societat Cotonera de Barcelona, has been used in recent years as a rather dilapidated neighbourhood centre. It is being rehabilitated by preserving 3 façades that are insulated from the outside with wood fiber, keeping all the thermal inertia of the existing stone façade. The slab on the ground floor is also preserved, which shows the metal structure and the ceramic vaults at the bottom. The rest is being rebuilt, expanded to the east, and one more floor is added. The whole new structure is prefabricated in wood. It is seen inside and protected on the outside by a ventilated perforated corrugated sheet metal façade. The central atrium, which was walled up, has been restored and is now returning to natural light, making it easier to see and understand the interior of the building. The light from the atrium enters laterally through an emptying of the south façade on the top floor to allow the sun to enter laterally in winter and not to enter vertically in summer as it did before to prevent summer overheating and favor winter solar capture. This volumetric emptying creates a useful outdoor space as an outdoor room or workshop where aspects related to the atmosphere and the universe can be worked on. The building, which almost doubles the original usable area, houses a function room, workshops, rooms for neighbourhood organisations and other services. Maximum energy savings are sought to the point of being a zero-balance building, as it will produce as much or more energy than it will consume throughout the year, thanks to the photovoltaic solar capture of the roof. Good perimeter insulation, between 12 and 24 cm, with natural materials and good active and passive solar capture with mobile sunscreens for the summer, are the key to autonomous operation without external energy. The work has a positive CO2 balance because more than 200m3 of wood have been used, basically in the prefabricated structure, which stores more CO2 inside than has been generated throughout the work and its materials. The area around the building is connected to the existing square by demolishing the fences that bordered it. The entrance square follows the language of the existing rear square, respects the existing trees, and is paved in the logical paths of pedestrians. The colour of the pavement follows the trace of the old control lair that delimited the industrial area. A continuous open public space has now been built around a 19th-century building that speaks of the 21st century.