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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
Built on the same dates as the rest of the "Raspall block", the Iris tower shows a light and immaterial appearance thanks to the chromatic treatment spread over all the façades, based on white, cream and yellow tones. It follows the typology of the other holiday homes built by Raspall, with the vertical continuity reflected by the tower. In this case, Raspall is entertained in all the small-scale elements, such as the vaults of the balconies, covered with mosaic, or the bars of the railings, which trace very delicate patterns. The stone plinth extends to the base of the fence, showing a desire to cover all surfaces and generating a dreamlike and unrealistic image.
The Iris Tower (1910), despite the appearance of a single-family house, contains two houses connected by a staircase as if it were a tenement house. It consists of a semi-basement, ground floor, floor and attic, and a viewing terrace covered in brown and yellow glazed tiles, forming geometric patterns. The central body is covered with a roof on two sides with wide eaves on both sides. The facings under the eaves and the gables of the façades and the tower are sgraffito with geometric-floral designs. The wrought iron railings follow a similar decoration. The walls have an irregular stone plinth; the rest are stuccoed imitating limestone up to the first floor and smooth on the rest. Raspall continues to use semicircular arches and basket and elliptical or oval openings. On the ground floor and on the upper floor there is a set of stained-glass windows.
The "Mansana Raspall" is a unique set in the history of modernist architecture in our country: it consists of four isolated buildings, located on the same block of houses, built by the architect Manuel Joaquim Raspall between 1910 and 1913. The four buildings have an obvious stylistic unity, reinforced by the garden fences, which use the same language: irregular stone, mosaic and forge, all with sinuous lines. The Raspall Houses are very representative of the work of the first stage of this architect, who belongs to the second generation of modernist architects, and are the gateway to the long Passeig dels Plàtans, where there are the most modernist buildings important of the population.
The promoters of the Barbey and Barraquer houses were prominent members of the Barcelona bourgeoisie, who had them built as second homes. The Bombonera and the Iris Tower were built by Cecília Reig Argelagós, from La Garriga, who rented them out as a second residence.
Set Illa Raspall