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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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 building consists of a white elemental prism placed gently on the ground and open to the outside through a porch that covers the entire width of the façade. The topography of the land is slightly inclined, so that the building, while maintaining the horizontal level, does not touch the ground. This arrangement summarises the symbolism that goes with the project: the position that levitates the prism and the large opening of the porch refer to a conception of death as a journey, as a starting point, a conception that moves away from the expression "here they rest" to adopt the expression "from here they have parted". The program is organised around a water courtyard that separates and distributes the three main packages: the wake rooms, the oratory and the cafeteria. The passage from one room to the other always takes place through the patio, which acts as a decompression chamber. The conception of each interior space combines artificial light, natural light and the view of the sky, grading the lightness or darkness of each piece depending on its use.
The building is conceived as a white box, levitating halfway between the earth and the sky, in an optimistic image of death understood as a journey and not as an end.
The slope of the land allows the administration areas to be placed under the building with direct access from the promenade.
The program is articulated from a courtyard with water that separates the three main areas: the wake rooms, the cafeteria and the oratory.
The piece opens completely to the landscape in a large, glazed porch, in contrast to the usual hermetic images of this type of equipment.
The oratory rises in an expressive gesture that qualifies it and allows the view of the sky from the interior.
BAAS Arquitectura, Jordi Badia i Rodríguez