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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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
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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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Works (10)
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Chronology (10)
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Terrassa City Council
Built to house a city council, with a meeting room and offices. The façade of the meeting room is built with Montjuich stone. However, this room and the town hall are carried out with plaster coffered ceilings, while the grand stone staircase is topped with stained-glass. Construction of bricks, hydraulic mortar and red pine wood; tile and concrete vaults; common or Arabic tile roof, whitewashed tile and Flanders wood. The flooring of the lobby is executed in hard stone from Montjuich and Sant Vicenç de Castellet, with lime or white plaster plastering. The sculptural part of the central body and the façade remains unfinished. The initial project was a bit varied. Restoration in 1943. In 1898 the City Council swaps its own building for the Industrial Institute building: the acquired building (former Galí house) is demolished for the new one. The current construction, according to a project made in 1900, was retouched and completed in 1903-04 by the architect Antoni Pasqual i Carratero. The inauguration was in occasion of the Festa Major of 1903 (July). Extensions with the annexation of two adjoining houses, one of them the former Courthouse, and a new three-storey building built in 1959-1960 took place. It was occupied by members of the FAI on the night of February 14 to 15, 1932. It currently has the potential for major expansion due to the acquisition of the large Catex S.A. factory, which faces the City Hall courtyard and pavilions. The reconstruction of the upper floor, the beams and façade are planned. -
Gran Hotel Peninsular
Building between partitions, ground floor and three landings. The façade has a very flat composition, symmetrical and with two openings per floor. The ground floor has a double portal, the first floor has a double iron balcony supported by corbels and rounded edges, and on the upper floors there are individual balconies of wavy shapes also made of iron. The top of the building is made with a cornice and toothed gables that reinforce the vertical composition of the openings. The façade is made of stucco and it has ornaments of floral motifs on the lintels and under the balconies. The tax line is at the level of the balconies on the top floor, with an attempt to integrate with the neighbouring buildings. -
Farnés Department Store
Building between partitions with ground floor and two landings. It presents a symmetrical façade with a vertical outline, this one accentuated by the size and the format of the openings, in parabolic arches that connect in an upward direction until ending in stepped gables in the first place and in an arch at the top. The ground floor has two parabolic arches with buttressed sandstone reliefs. The first floor has an iron balcony and moulded cement profiles in the arches. The second floor has the same layout and balconies. It presents the cornice crowning that follows the gables. The façade has a stone plinth and the rest is plastered in grey. The interior floor is divided into two areas divided by a monumental staircase. The floors are walled with a typical Catalan vault support by iron beams. The back of the first floor, which is under the roof, is covered by a brick vault supported by braces. The third floor, only partially built, has a crystal skylight shaped like saw teeth. The carpentry and forging work should be highlighted. It is a very representative example of Muncunill's adaptation of the classic type of house to turn it into an industrial building without the need to alter the image of the city. It participates in the most typical stylistic currents of the moment. It was built at the request of Joaquim Alegre and was a textile warehouse until it was abandoned. Finally, the property passed to a real estate agency in Barcelona. The defunct "Grup d'Arquitectes de Terrassa" had a brilliant and efficient action to save the building from destruction. Later, at the end of the 1970s, it was acquired by Manuel Tobella i Marcet to install the archive that bears his name – a foundation dedicated to the city where a series of private collections are already of public use of photography, programmes and local brochures, in addition to various documentation. The entity is governed by a board, has a staff, library and organises cultural activities and publishes works of local interest. -
Aymerich, Amat i Jover Factory Building
Of all the industrial buildings built by Muncunill in Terrassa, the Aymerich, Amat i Jover factory is the most significant one, both for its dimensions and for the construction procedures used. It occupies an area of 15,000 square metres, of which 12,000 correspond to the large engine room. It is a large space with seven bodies arranged on cast iron columns and covered with flat brick vaults and braces. The nave receives light through openings oriented to the north, which adopt a sawtooth arrangement. Each turn is of circular generator and arbitrary directive. The guideline rests on two sections of the nave and is located on two arches, one recessed and the other elliptical. The generatrix draws a very lowered arc. The vault is bent to facilitate the insulation of the ship. Each vault is formed by three tiles and is separated by small brick partitions that leave an air layer of 15 centimetres. Each turn is held by straps of thirty millimetres in diametre. In this way, diffuse and equal lighting is achieved throughout the nave. -
Masia Freixa
The "farmhouse" is the result of the refurbishment and rehabilitation of an existing industrial building. In 1907, the firm Freixa i Sans decided to build a new building for the manufacture of alpacas. Muncunill preserves the structure of the old factory in its entirety and operates a job of superimposing new elements. Flat brick vaults supported by braces on brick bands rest on the old walls. In addition, the wall is bent on the inner side for the placement of doors and windows. The rest of the interventions tend to substantially modify the visual effect produced by the building. The walls are plastered white. On the south side the great gallery is opened, formed by a succession of parabolic arches, in eight sections, on a wide pavement that draws wavy shapes. Each section is covered by a small dome tuned to those covering the central sector. A large arch closes this gallery on the west side, covered by a dome that stands out from the others. Later, two more floors were added, destined for the kitchen and service rooms. -
Pere Font i Batallé Factory
Isolated industrial building that is part of a wider complex, but of less interest. It is rectangular in floor plan, two stories high and roofed with Catalan vaults. The structure of the intermediate slab is also similar to the tensioned Catalan vault. The entire work is clad in exposed brick, with a lowered arch opening in flattened brick as the only decorative element. The façade is punctuated by pilasters and curved cornices, with a blunt profile, which make the Catalan-style vaulting structure of the roof visible and at the same time make up the spaces where the windows open. -
Izard Factory
Building with a rectangular plan, subdivided longitudinally into two industrial units, with an interior structure of cast iron columns that support four-pointed vaults made of bricks, reflected on the outside by semi-spherical volumes and crowned by ventilation turrets also made of brick. In front of the unit there is an urbanised area, where the lower part of the old steam chimney has been preserved. The origin of Vapor Amat can be situated in 1833. Later, in 1876, it was greatly refurbished. In 1914, the factory of Francesc Izard and Ramon Codina was installed in Vapor Amat under the name of Izard i Cia and, a few years later, they became a limited company adopting the name SA Manufactura Tèxtil. In 1969, the company became associated with the Central de Acabados Textiles, SA (CATEX) company. However, the naves that are preserved were built and renovated in 1925 by the architect Lluís Muncunill i Parellada. Later, in 1935, there was an intervention by the architect Joan Baca i Reixach. In 1982, the old dye warehouse was transformed into a municipal exhibition hall, according to a project by the architect Francesc Bacardit i Segués from Terrassa. The most modern building was rehabilitated to house the Theatre Institute.