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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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:
2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar OrnaqueDocumental Commission:
2019-2024 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:
2019-2024 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
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.
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Renovation of the Façade of the Architects' Association of Catalonia (COAC)
Fuses-Viader Arquitectes, Josep Fuses i Comalada, Jordi Mansilla, Jorge Perea, Joan Maria Viader i Martí
The proposal is a reinterpretation of Xavier Busquets' original project from 1962 and is part of the legacy of modern Catalan architecture. It consists of maintaining and reinforcing what was most substantial in the original proposal: the tension established between the monumental platform of the trapezoidal lower body with Picasso’s sgraffito and the retired body of the office plants. Reinforcing the neutrality of the background, the Picasso’s base is valued even more. In short, the spirit of the original project is recovered by introducing some modifications such as the change in the opening of the windows, from original sliders and hinges to oscillating doors and the removal of the crowning finish of the building with a tile cladding extending the glass from the façade to the upper crown, as already appeared in the model that Busquets had submitted to the 1958 competition. We therefore opted for a critical fidelity of the original project instead of an alternative proposal such as proposing a second skin or the change of the cut of the façade’s curtain wall in favour of greater transparency. Efforts have been made to improve the performance of the new façade both in the quality of the materials and construction details and in the energy efficiency of the complex. In this sense, a photovoltaic glass with CIGS technology has been incorporated in the panel of the sills, with a screen printing of small white dots so that the impact from black to gray is nuanced and it integrates better with the whole façade. -
EU Mies Award
NominatedRenovation of the Façade of the Architects' Association of Catalonia (COAC)