Intro

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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.

Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque
Directors arquitecturacatalana.cat

credits

About us

Project by:

Created by:

Directors:

2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque

Documental 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 Ornaque

Collaborators:

2019-2024 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Maria Jesús Quintero Lucía M. Villodres Montse Viu

External Collaborators:

2019-2024 Helena Cepeda Inès Martinel

With the support of:

Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura

Collaborating Entities:

ArquinFAD

 

Fundació 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.

Design & Development:

edittio Nubilum
Suggestions

Suggestion box

Request the image

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.

Detail:

* If the memory has known authorship or rights, cite them in the field above 'Comments' .

Remove * If the photographs has known authorship or rights, cite them in the field above 'Comments'.
You can attach up to 5 files of up to 10 MB each.

Informació bàsica de protecció de dades

Responsable del tractament: Col·legi d Arquitectes de Catalunya 'COAC'
Finalitat del tractament: Tramitar la sol·licitud de còpies digitals dels documents dels quals l’Arxiu Històric del COAC gestiona els drets d'explotació dels autors, a més d'aquells que es trobin en domini públic.
Legitimació del tractament: El seu consentiment per tractar les seves dades personals.
Destinatari de cessions o transferències: El COAC no realitza cessions o transferències internacionals de dades personals.
Drets de les persones interessades: Accedir, rectificar i suprimir les seves dades, així com, l’exercici d’altres drets conforme a l’establert a la informació addicional.
Informació addicional: Pot consultar la informació addicional i detallada sobre protecció de dades en aquest enllaç

How to get there

In Pictures

View all images
  • Torre de l'Amo de Viladomiu Vell

  • Torre de l'Amo de Viladomiu Vell

  • Torre de l'Amo de Viladomiu Vell

  • Torre de l'Amo de Viladomiu Vell

  • Torre de l'Amo de Viladomiu Vell

  • Torre de l'Amo de Viladomiu Vell

  • Torre de l'Amo de Viladomiu Vell

Memory

It is an isolated stately tower, with a rectangular floor plan made up of four bodies distributed in such a way as to form an interior courtyard, the four of them organised in elevation on the ground floor, two floors and attic, and with tile roofs forming two slopes with the ridges running parallel to each of the four sides. In the body of the building facing Carrer de Puig Llançada, there is a tower that stands out from the rest of the constructions, covered with hip tile roofs, which gives the complex the character of a stately tower. Each façade has a different treatment in terms of the typology and layout of the openings; however, all of them are framed by exposed brickwork that stands out from the white walls made with a common wall covered with a simple plaster, except for the ground floor where the cladding imitates a masonry of large ashlars arranged in an irregular manner. Attached to the tower there is a single flight of external stairs, with a brick railing, which leads to the first floor, where there is a unique brickwork belvedere with a hexagonal base, with four green ceramic columns and green ceramic floral capitals supporting false stepped arches on which is a second uncovered belvedere with an exposed brickwork cantilevered railing supported by corbels, also in exposed brickwork. On each side of the main entrance we see the atriums formed by three pointed corner arches, above which is a small flat roof terrace with simple balustraded balustrades of exposed brickwork. Two of the lower arches start from an exposed brick pillar built according to a helical structure. The cladding of the whole is in rather poor condition, with undercuts that reveal the common masonry work of the walls. The cladding of all the corner pieces imitates large squared ashlars that give the whole a medieval castle character.
The tower of the owner of Viladomiu Vell is recorded as having been built in 1910 (CASALS:2002, 49). As is the case in all the colonies, the tower was built as a residence for the owners of the factory and the colony for the owners. These were usually monumental buildings, in historicist or Catalan Art Nouveau styles, which became a symbol of the social and economic power of the lords. The first steps for the construction of the Viladomiu Vell factory were taken on 2 May 1868, when Tomàs Viladomiu i Bertran and his sons, Josep, Jacint and Marc Viladomiu i Montañà, bought a piece of land, called la Plana de Sant Marc, from Josep Feliu i Subirà and Martí Feliu Farriols, father and son. In 1871, the factory was already registered. Initially, housing was built on the first floor of the factory for the workers and also for Mr. Viladomiu, who lived there until 1878. This was the year when the owners' residence tower began to be built – it is recorded that the factory's carpentry shop was located on the ground floor.

Source: Mapes de Patrimoni Cultural. Diputació de Barcelona (diba)

The building has an irregular ground plan with a central body that is differentiated in all its proportions. The main façade, facing west, is flanked by two bodies with large terraces. The south body, surrounded by gardens, has a secondary entrance that leads to a gazebo and a square tower of considerable proportions (this tower has a large staircase inside that leads to the different floors of the tower). The tramontane section is more massive and is also surrounded by gardens. The different levels of the different parts of the tower are covered by a gabled roof or a hipped roof on the tower. The decoration, mainly centred on the cornices and windows, gives a totally romantic air to the whole.

Built when the colony was founded in 1910. It was conceived as a second residence for the owners of the colony, Viladomiu. The decorative elements are a mixture of different historical styles: columns with stylised capitals, pointed arches (medieval recreations), together with the use of reddish mahogany in the finishes of the arches and cornices (Mudéjar style) which contrasts with the white of the rendering and some mosaic details in the gardens.

This is the last major work of the urban complex and becomes a symbol, thanks to the use of a historicist architectural language, a sign of the economic power of the owners.

Source: Inventari del Patrimoni Arquitectònic de Catalunya (IPAC)

How to get there

On the Map

Awarded
Cataloged
Disappeared
All works

Constellation

Chronology

  1. Torre de l'Amo de Viladomiu Vell

    autoria desconeguda

    Torre de l'Amo de Viladomiu Vell

    It is an isolated stately tower, with a rectangular floor plan made up of four bodies distributed in such a way as to form an interior courtyard, the four of them organised in elevation on the ground floor, two floors and attic, and with tile roofs forming two slopes with the ridges running parallel to each of the four sides. In the body of the building facing Carrer de Puig Llançada, there is a tower that stands out from the rest of the constructions, covered with hip tile roofs, which gives the complex the character of a stately tower. Each façade has a different treatment in terms of the typology and layout of the openings; however, all of them are framed by exposed brickwork that stands out from the white walls made with a common wall covered with a simple plaster, except for the ground floor where the cladding imitates a masonry of large ashlars arranged in an irregular manner. Attached to the tower there is a single flight of external stairs, with a brick railing, which leads to the first floor, where there is a unique brickwork belvedere with a hexagonal base, with four green ceramic columns and green ceramic floral capitals supporting false stepped arches on which is a second uncovered belvedere with an exposed brickwork cantilevered railing supported by corbels, also in exposed brickwork. On each side of the main entrance we see the atriums formed by three pointed corner arches, above which is a small flat roof terrace with simple balustraded balustrades of exposed brickwork. Two of the lower arches start from an exposed brick pillar built according to a helical structure. The cladding of the whole is in rather poor condition, with undercuts that reveal the common masonry work of the walls. The cladding of all the corner pieces imitates large squared ashlars that give the whole a medieval castle character. The tower of the owner of Viladomiu Vell is recorded as having been built in 1910 (CASALS:2002, 49). As is the case in all the colonies, the tower was built as a residence for the owners of the factory and the colony for the owners. These were usually monumental buildings, in historicist or Catalan Art Nouveau styles, which became a symbol of the social and economic power of the lords. The first steps for the construction of the Viladomiu Vell factory were taken on 2 May 1868, when Tomàs Viladomiu i Bertran and his sons, Josep, Jacint and Marc Viladomiu i Montañà, bought a piece of land, called la Plana de Sant Marc, from Josep Feliu i Subirà and Martí Feliu Farriols, father and son. In 1871, the factory was already registered. Initially, housing was built on the first floor of the factory for the workers and also for Mr. Viladomiu, who lived there until 1878. This was the year when the owners' residence tower began to be built – it is recorded that the factory's carpentry shop was located on the ground floor.
  2. Viladomiu Vell Colony

    autoria desconeguda

    Viladomiu Vell Colony

    The Viladomiu Vell settlement is located about one kilometre south of Cal Bassacs. It is a colony built parallel to the river, from north to south, and at the entrance to the colony we find the church on one side (together with some annexe buildings) and on the other side, the owners' tower, while a little further up is the director's chalet. Thus, firstly, the most emblematic spaces of symbolic power, the church and the tower, then the central part destined for the workers' dwellings, and in the final part, the industrial zone, the factory. The dwellings are distributed in three rows of parallel blocks that make up the urban space, streets and squares; thus, in the upper street, the westernmost one, there are two blocks arranged in a row, one next to the other. Broadly speaking, these are buildings with an elongated rectangular ground plan, consisting of three storeys (ground floor and two upper floors) and a semi-basement floor accessible from the street below, as the ground is slightly uneven, and these are basically used as garages. The main façade that opens onto calle de Puig Sacalm is the characteristic gallery façade, made up of three rows or open gallery streets with openings of segmental arches supported on pillars. On this façade we find the entrances to the ground floors and the stairwells leading to the upper floors. Three of the lateral façades of these blocks remain without cladding, allowing us to see the stone walls with solid brick reinforcement in the corners and in the framing of the openings, in the case of the northernmost block, which also forms a decorative plasterwork. In this same block, we can see the openings of the southern lateral façade at ground floor level, with the openings framed in stone ashlars. The other blocks, one on the central street or row and two on the street below, also placed one next to the other, are also elongated rectangular in plan, with three storeys (ground floor and two storeys) and a gable roof of Arabic tile with an eave decorated with a geometric combination made of solid brick. The walls show the ground floor made of stone ashlars and the rest with the surface rendered and painted. The openings in the main and side façades are straight-cut and regularly distributed; the access portals to the interior staircases all open onto Puig Llançada street; the rear façades (in the westernmost block on the west and the easternmost blocks open onto the river to the east) have openings leading to balcony galleries, most of which have now been modified and closed off. The block of flats on the east side facing the church has an inverted L-shaped plan, with a volume facing the church that housed the schools and community spaces. Between the two we find the main square of the colony, the church square. Delimited between the three rows of blocks and at the southern end by the access to the factory, there is another square - Puig Sacalm street, the street above, which is like a promenade, with benches and plane trees. The Viladomiu Vell colony was founded by Tomàs Viladomiu Bertran, a member of a lineage linked to the spinning and weaving industry since ancient times. The origins of the family are documented from the beginning of the 16th century in Vilada, from where they moved to Berga. Over the years, there are numerous reports documenting the Viladomiu family's relationship with textile manufacturing, showing the evolution and growth of their business by adapting to the new demands and needs of each period. Tomàs Viladomiu's father moved to Sallent when he married Antònia Bertran, from the Cal Rei house, a town where he would continue to work in the wire and fabric business, and where the founder of the Viladomiu colonies was born, who would continue the family's business trajectory. Tomàs Viladomiu Bertran decided to set up a factory and colony up the Llobregat river, seeing the possibilities offered by the area, which was still scarcely industrialised. The chosen location was the land at Plana de Santa Marc, which he bought from the Feliu brothers. The history of the colony of Viladomiu began in 1868 with the application for the use of water to build a factory. Work began with the construction of the first building, the lock and canal, and the first buildings to house the workers. Subsequently, the colony would grow and incorporate elements, the church (1885), the wall, the tower (1910), the schools, extending the blocks of flats, enlarging the factory, etc. Once production had started (1871), the company ‘Viladomiu e Hijos’ bought and began the process of building a new colony on land further south of Viladomiu Vell. In this case, the land was bought from the same family, the plot where the new project was to be built was called the Llave de San Marcos, the names of the land would be used while both colonies were under the same company. From 1896, Tomàs Viladomiu's sons split the inheritance and each colony, Viladomiu Vell and Viladomiu Nou, were managed by different companies. In 1882 the company obtained the status of agricultural and industrial colony, which allowed it to benefit from certain tax exemptions. From the foundation of the Viladomiu Nou colony until 1989 it was managed by different companies linked to the Viladomiu family. The management of the colony and factory of Viladomiu Nou was done through different companies, as they changed over the years - 1869-1887: Viladomiu and Sons, 1888-1896: Viladomiu Sons, from this point onwards each Viladomiu colony undertook its own business path, 1896-1906: José Viladomiu Montañá, 1907-1927: José and Jacinto Viladomiu; 1928-1934: José Viladomiu Senmartí; 1934-1989: Manufacturas Viladomiu S. A. The Colonia Viladomiu Vell is included in the ‘Plan director urbanístico de las colonias industriales del Llobregat’; the municipality of Gironella is included in the Pla together with the municipalities of Avià, Balsareny, Berga, Casserres, Gaià, Navàs, Olvan and Puig-reig (DOGC no. 4940 published on 03/08/2007). At the southern end of the complex is the industrial area, the factory, with access through a large open doorway in the perimeter wall delimiting the factory space; in the access area there are some buildings built in the 20th century, including offices, the weighbridge, etc. The main feature of the production complex is the large central nave with an elongated rectangular floor plan, three levels of openings and a gable roof made of Arabic tile. Surrounding it are other halls and buildings, several of the structures attached to the central nave, with different volumes and finishes, being buildings of different functionalities and chronologies. On the north side of the complex there was the chimney of the steam engine, which no longer exists. Parallel to the river and the colony runs the canal that carries the water from the lock, located a few metres upstream, to the factory. The orchard area around the canal is also worth mentioning. A few metres from the owner's tower there is also the director's chalet – a four-storey house attached to the land on the west side, with a ground floor, first floor and ground floor-roof. On the first floor, there is a balcony-like gallery that continues on the roof and a ground floor level that develops on the roof itself, showing only lateral façades between the different roof planes. The roof is made of flat ceramic tiles with eaves supported by wooden beam heads.

Related Works

Set Colònia Viladomiu Vell

Bústia suggeriments

Ajuda’ns a millorar el web i el seu contingut. Proposa’ns obres, aporta o esmena informació sobre obres, autors i fotògrafs, o comenta’ns el què penses. Participa!