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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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:
2019-2023 Aureli Mora i Omar OrnaqueDocumental Commission:
2019-2023 Ramon Faura Carolina B. Garcia Francesc Rafat Antoni López Daufí Joan Falgueras Anton Pàmies Mercè Bosch Josep Ferrando Fernando Marzá Aureli Mora Omar OrnaqueExternal Collaborators:
2019-2023 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Helena Cepeda Inès Martinel Maria Jesús QuinteroWith the support of:
Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de CulturaCollaborating Entities:
ArquinFADFundació Mies van der Rohe
Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico
Arxiu Mas
Basílica de la Sagrada Família
Museu del Disseny de Barcelona
EINA Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona
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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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Esbossos i detalls de la decoració interior dels Nous Apartaments a les Golfes de la Casa Milà.
- Author:
- Francisco Juan Barba Corsini
- Date:
- 1953 - 1955
- Type:
- Drawing
- Fonds / Held by:
- Arxiu Històric del COAC
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Perspectiva de l'exterior de l'Edifici d'Apartaments a La Molina.
- Author:
- Francisco Juan Barba Corsini
- Date:
- 1964
- Type:
- Drawing
- Fonds / Held by:
- Arxiu Històric del COAC
Memory
Nascut a Tarragona el 16 de novembre de 1916, morí a Barcelona el 10 de març de 2008. Fill de pare arquitecte i constructor, va començar a cursar estudis de ciències exactes i arquitectura l’any 1932. Durant la Guerra Civil espanyola va haver d'aturar la seva formació. En acabar la guerra, continuà amb la seva carrera d’arquitectura, obtenint el títol d’arquitecte el juny de 1943, i establint seu primer estudi professional l’any 1945 al carrer Aribau de la ciutat de Barcelona. L’any 1954 obté el Diploma d’Urbanista; el de Doctor el 1965 i, el 1966, és nombrat professor de l’últim curs de Proyectos de la Escuela Superior de Arquitectura de Barcelona. Durant la postguerra cal destacar la seva participació activa en la reconstrucció de la ciutat, dirigint nombroses obres, sobretot, edificis urbans al “Servicio de Construcciones”. Les seves primeres construccions denoten trets neoclassicistes, influència de la rígida formació rebuda a la Escuela Superior de Arquitectura. Posteriorment, adopta un canvi en el seu estil influenciat pel cinema americà; la visió de les pel·lícules El manantial i Que el cielo la juzgue, l’inspiraren en la realització del projecte dels apartaments de la Pedrera (1953) ja desapareguts. Amb la mirada posada a les innovadores tendències europees, va superar els estrictes postulats de l’arquitectura neoclàssica de postguerra, i les seves obres es van convertir en un referent de l’evolució de l’arquitectura residencial catalana a partir de la segona meitat del segle XX. Cal destacar també en la figura d’en Barba Corsini, la seva vessant de dissenyador en les peces de mobiliari pels apartaments de la Pedrera.
Source: Arxiu Històric del COAC
Works (13)
On the Map
Constellation
Cronology (15)
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New Apartments in the Penthouse of Casa Milà
The attic area of "La Pedrera" was, in addition to being a deposit of useless junk, filled with rats when they commissioned me to study a solution that would allow it to be incorporated into the useful and profitable part of the building. The structure is simple and interesting. The roof rests directly on partition parabolic arches which are about 80cm apart and whose nails are linked by brick ribs that follow catenary guidelines. The approach was logical: rings of passage around the large central patios provide access to the various units, which take advantage of the height of the undulating ceilings by means of mezzanines forming "duplexes". Main idea. The main drawing board has been the floor of the ground plan, with a firm intention of defending "architectural honesty both in the structure and in the materials", valuing a solution for its simplicity, even at the cost of the perfection of the finish. I have clung to this idea to flee from the decorative and baroque styles that have attacked me, as is logical, in an exuberant environment of shapes, discarding the use of manufactured materials in industries that our country does not have. Materials. All of them have been simple materials, even elementary. Essays with raw common brick, refractories of various kinds, ceramics, stones, Galician pine in some coating… In kitchen and bathroom veneers, after some trials in glazing, I have returned to tile, a material with great possibilities, which I have treated in groups of 3 or 4 colours per piece. I believe that the greatest success achieved has been with earthy materials, particularly with refractories because of its hot and vibrant quality. Shapes. These are the result of working in an organic environment with no other forced base than the clean structure, free from the prison of the grid and the 90-degree angle, a logical consequence of industrial standardization, or the use of load-bearing walls, but without justification in structural projects. Open spaces that allow us to conceive a world that is freer and closer to nature that was not created in a grid. I have come to the conclusion that we must take advantage, even in the state of our industry, to allow ourselves certain design liberties that would not be acceptable in more advanced countries, and which allow us to achieve a more humane and attractive architecture. Ground plan management law. The goal is to make life easier with the minimum effort and the maximum sensation of well-being, looking for minimum distances when traveling and adapting the closing lines of the environments whose enclosures are repeatedly floating in plan and elevation to these layouts. Studying the perspectives from the fundamental areas: sleeping, eating and being. Standardisation. It is impossible to normalise anything other than the fundamental idea; I have been able to create a "standard" element that regulates the functions between the little kitchen and the sleeping area, a large polychrome wardrobe that has simplified the work greatly. Colour. As Mediterranean people with red blood in our veins and a blue sea in our landscapes, we cannot see life in black and white; colour is our fourth dimension in Architecture. Essays of contrasting polychromies, ranges of colours of the same order and neutral backgrounds with polychrome parts. The type of paint used is glue; in my opinion, it is the one that gives the best quality. Furniture. It has been necessary to invent all the furniture, due to not finding anything decent on the market. We have had to even invent the Saarinen armchair, already invented. As an experience, a chair with a continuous back and seat and a group inspired by the Moorish "pouf" in the last apartment that reflects the experiences of all the others and in which I have tried to respect "architectural honesty" as much as possible, both in shapes and materials. Conclusion. After living "La Pedrera" daily for more than a year, I have met Gaudí, a true master of our bravest functional architecture. “La Pedrera” began in 1905, when Gaudí was 53 years old, for the couple from Barcelona Mr. and Mrs. Milá, ending in 1910. It is one of the most important works, apart from the Expiatory Temple of the Sagrada Familia, by the great architect. -
Zariquiey House
La planta de la casa sorgeix d’una lectura de dos elements bàsics de l’entorn: els vents que provenen del nord i les vistes sobre les dues caletes, a la banda sud. Dos murs còncaus de pedra de Cadaqués suporten una llosa de formigó que abasta tota la casa, i deixen una petita ranura de llum en tot el perímetre. La sala d’estar es col·loca en el punt de vista privilegiat, i un sistema de murs de maó vist permet el tancament dels dormitoris. La configuració planimètrica fa que la casa no sembli totalment tancada i crea una atmosfera domèstica que eludeix la noció d’un espai interior pròpiament dit. -
Escoles Pies 20 Apartment Building
It is an isolated building that rises on pilotis, and with a practically diaphanous ground floor. The only closed volume occupies about a quarter of the surface; the rest is used as a playground for children. The perimeter garden seems to extend over the ground floor thanks to the construction of a pond and small stone flower beds that evoke the natural world. The distribution of the floor is done by bands: the bedrooms and the service areas face the back, and the day areas face the street. The separation of the studios in the day areas is done by means of panels that do not reach the ceiling and can change depending on the needs. In the attic there are two duplexes set back from the façade. The façade to the street is formed by terraces that extend from one end to the other in cantilever in front of the main body. Barba Corsini was concerned that the terraces could be enjoyed without being seen, so he arranged a series of staggered opaque parapets that generate a very dynamic composition. He had also planned a system of folding shutters on the edge of the terraces, which were finally removed for economic reasons. The building has an important colour treatment that, for the author, represented the fourth dimension of space. The volume is covered in black tile, the balconies are in white sheet metal and, on this non-colour base, the different textures, colours and materials are combined. -
Mitre Building
In the early 1960s, the area where the building was located was in the process of being developed. The block chooses to line up at the back street and separate from the Ronda del General Mitre. It consists of seven detached apartments, with a total of 298 dwellings. Except for the apartments located on the front, the rest of them have 46 square meters, and they are all available for rental. The standard apartment is designed for a family of up to three young children. The concept of the block is inherited from some proposals of the modern movement, although here they are made through private promotion. -
FAD Award
Finalist. Category: Architecture
Mitre BuildingGrup d'Habitatges per la Caixa de Pensions Can Mercader
Francisco Juan Barba Corsini, Margarita Brender Rubira, Joan-Antoni Padrós Galera
La Caja de Pensiones para la Vejez y de Ahorros adquirió el solar una fábrica preexistente y encargó su demolición para promover, años después, la construcción de viviendas acogidas a la Ley de la Vivienda estatal. En 1966, encargó el proyecto a tres arquitectos que nunca habían colaborado juntos. Los arquitectos desarrollaron una figura de Planeamiento Urbanístico previo para establecer las condiciones de edificación necesarias para la ejecución del proyecto previsto. Habían estudiado propuestas más compactas de manzana cerrada y otras modalidades que descartaron. El proyecto se estructura en nueve edificios, todos ellos orientados prácticamente a norte-sur, con una ligera inclinación hacia el este, que rompía completamente la alineación del Plan Pons del entorno. Contiene tres torres de hasta doce plantas de altura que actúan como pantalla frente a la carretera Nacional II. El resto de las edificaciones, de planta baja y dos o tres plantas, se sitúan en la parte cercana a los edificios de planta baja y piso que predominan en este barrio. Así pues, dos zonas absolutamente diferenciadas. Entre ellas, se introdujero una serie de espacios de socialización, con el objetivo de facilitar los encuentros entre los vecinos, liberando también algunos espacios de planta baja, mediante porches que comunican calles o a través de espacios cerrados de uso comunitario. El espacio libre del conjunto es una parte esencial del proyecto. El complejo residencial se estructura alrededor de una plaza central que dividida en dos niveles que dan acceso a todos los bloques. El acceso al conjunto se realiza a través de dos vías peatonales que conectan con el cinturón perimetral de calles. Además de la plaza central y las calles adyacentes, el complejo cuenta con cuatro pasarelas elevadas que configuran un tercer nivel de relación, ubicado a 2,80 m sobre la cota de los bloques bajos. El conjunto residencial de Can Mercader se distribuye en seis tipologías de viviendas moduladas según una crujía de 7,70 m en los bloques altos y 8,50 m en los bajos. Se aprecia una clara intención de introducir variaciones en cuanto a las distribuciones, el número de habitaciones –tres o cuatro en los bloques altos y cuatro o cinco en los bloques bajos–, definición de fachadas, mediante la introducción de desplazamientos tanto en altura como en planta, que garantizan la permeabilidad del conjunto a pesar de la altura de los bloques. En planta, los desplazamientos colaboran a dotar de privacidad a las terrazas. Las viviendas constan de: cocina, galería abierta, comedor-sala de estar, aseo, baño, una habitación doble, entre dos y cuatro habitaciones individuales, terraza asociada a la sala de estar y, en algunos casos, a la habitación contigua a esta. Con esta variedad tipológica, los arquitectos ofrecen la posibilidad de alojar familias de hasta ocho personas en la misma vivienda o incluso diez, algo muy habitual de aquel momento que Barba Corsini ya proponía en su proyecto de viviendas de Mitre en Barcelona.
Archive
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Drawing
Esbossos i detalls de la decoració interior dels Nous Apartaments a les Golfes de la Casa Milà.
Arxiu Històric del COAC
-
Drawing
Perspectiva de l'exterior de l'Edifici d'Apartaments a La Molina.
Arxiu Històric del COAC