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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
The facilities are located on a perimeter plot of the Torregirona Garden, the headquarters of the UPC’s Rectorate. The land presents a strong downward slope in a N-S direction, and Dulcet and Til·lers Streets have a difference in elevation at the ends of the plot of 6m.
The proposal is made for two different uses, the first of which will be a student residence to be carried out in a first phase and then an office building with an auditorium will be projected. The layout of the residence is executed in three wings, responding to issues of orientation and urban morphology, but also due to the need to respect the existence of a provisional pavilion of the UPC, located in the S-E part of the site, where the offices and auditorium will be placed.
Wing A is aligned with Dulcet Street, in accordance with the continuity criteria of the curved building in Güell Square and the enclosure of the site. Building C is arranged according to the orthogonal relation to the Rectorate building, and building B pivots according to the dynamic view from the curve of Til·lers Avenue. Buildings A and B exhaust the permitted height of PB+3, while building C is maintained with two floors to avoid volumetric impact with the garden and the Rector's pavilion.
Buildings B and C have a flat roof, while Building A has a curved roof that contains the central heating and air conditioning installations, the south-facing solar energy collector panels that produce domestic hot water and the heating. The three types of rooms form three wings joined for a central communications core, although a complementary elevator for students is planned for practical reasons.
The office building is designed as a morphological complement to the residence to deal with a "staircase" problem in the Torregirona garden and the entire Pedralbes district. Its main pedestrian access to the interior level of the Campus will be related to the landscaped path that surrounds the Rectorate and where the entrance to the existing residence is also located. Here, they come together in two entrances, sharing the porch, which would provide a good entrance into the auditorium, an important piece of the program for the new equipment.
The new block rotates in plan, so that, volumetrically, it has an imperative visual relationship with the one with the same number of floors of the residence, leaving triangles of green plot. With this solution, the new construction integrates compositionally with the existing one and maintains a coherent relationship with the Rectorate's garden and with the rest of the neighbouring constructions.
The study of the program indicates that the four upper floors have equal surfaces and are flexible in terms of internal distribution. The building grows on floors 0-1 by locating the auditorium, changing rooms, access control and storage/archives. The location of the program underground allows the use of passive energy in terms of insulation.
The composition of the constructive section of the façades is thought from acoustic and thermal comfort and, in this sense, a ventilated façade solution with solar protection on the windows is thought of, which will condition the architectural language, which once again interprets the morphology of the façades of the existing residence.