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About
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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 approach to Casa Vicens has been done with respect and with a healthy distance and independence. Working like a surgeon would do, the parts that were missing from the work of Gaudí’s prominent personality have been replaced with new additions. In this process, it has been important to act with the utmost precision and without fear.
Designing a new staircase to adapt to current regulations and at the same time replacing the ghost of Gaudí’s original staircase has been a challenge.
This unique vertical element, accompanied by an elevator, occupies the central heart of the building and relates the three-floor summer house, which Gaudí built in 1885 for the Vicens family, to the volume added in 1925 by the architect Serra de Martínez to house three families on three different floors. The landing of the staircase leads to the outbuildings of the original house, and the new volume expands with a polygonal figure within the extension of the twentieth century. The staircase emerges on the roof as a new volume of geometry complementary to the Moorish style of the house.
Casa Vicens has gone from being a private home to a public one, becoming a museum.
Authors
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Constellation
Chronology (8)
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Vicens House
This is Gaudí's first commission, having just finished his studies. The house consists of two floors with a low ceiling which house the main floor and the bedrooms, and a much higher attic under a multi-slope roof. The treatment of the built factory combines exposed stone and brick masonry, which is drawn and organised according to horizontal rows, and vertical elements of ceramic tile, which always draw a draftboard pattern and incorporate the corner tribunes and their elements of support. The house was conceived as a large optical device linked to the garden and the skewed views from the street. -
Waterfall and Gardens of Vicens House
This is Gaudí's first commission, having just finished his studies. The house consists of two floors with a low ceiling, which house the main floor and the bedrooms, and a much higher attic, under a multi-slope roof. The treatment of the built factory combines exposed stone and brick masonry, which is drawn and organizsd according to horizontal rows, and vertical elements of ceramic tile, which always draw a checkerboard pattern and incorporate the corner tribunes and their elements of support. The house was conceived as a large optical device linked to the garden and the various skewed views from the street. -
Saint Rita Fountain in the Gardens of the Vicens House
Joan Baptista de Serra i Martínez
This is Gaudí's first commission, having just finished his studies. The house consists of two floors with a low ceiling, which house the main floor and the bedrooms, and a much higher attic, under a multi-slope roof. The treatment of the built factory combines exposed stone and brick masonry, which is drawn and organised according to horizontal rows, and vertical elements of ceramic tile, which always draw a checkerboard pattern and incorporate the corner tribunes and their elements of support. The house was conceived as a large optical device linked to the garden and the various skewed views from the street. -
Concurs Anual d'Edificis i Establiments Urbans
Award-Winner / WinnerRemodelling and Extension of Vicens HouseRehabilitation and Remodelling of Vicens House as a Museum House
DAW Office, Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, David García Martínez, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
The approach to Casa Vicens has been done with respect and with a healthy distance and independence. Working like a surgeon would do, the parts that were missing from the work of Gaudí’s prominent personality have been replaced with new additions. In this process, it has been important to act with the utmost precision and without fear. Designing a new staircase to adapt to current regulations and at the same time replacing the ghost of Gaudí’s original staircase has been a challenge. This unique vertical element, accompanied by an elevator, occupies the central heart of the building and relates the three-floor summer house, which Gaudí built in 1885 for the Vicens family, to the volume added in 1925 by the architect Serra de Martínez to house three families on three different floors. The landing of the staircase leads to the outbuildings of the original house, and the new volume expands with a polygonal figure within the extension of the twentieth century. The staircase emerges on the roof as a new volume of geometry complementary to the Moorish style of the house. Casa Vicens has gone from being a private home to a public one, becoming a museum.FAD Award
Finalist. Category: ArchitectureRehabilitation and Remodelling of Vicens House as a Museum HouseDAW Office, Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, David García Martínez, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
EU Mies Award
NominatedRehabilitation and Remodelling of Vicens House as a Museum HouseDAW Office, Martínez Lapeña-Torres Arquitectos, David García Martínez, José Antonio Martínez Lapeña, Elías Torres Tur
Audiovisual
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Finalista Arquitectura FAD 2019 - Rehabilitació de la Casa Vicens
