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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
A rectangular, two-storey building with a broad façade and shallow depth. Symmetry and horizontality dominate the composition, only broken by the crowning element of the structure. It features a large number of openings: three entrance doors with interspersed windows on the ground floor, and on the first floor, seven additional openings, five of which share the main balcony.
Notable elements include two medallions with floral motifs, the wrought-iron balustrade of the main balcony, and the sgraffito decorations bearing the inscription: “Casa Consistorial 1912”, with the coat of arms of Navarcles at the centre.
In 1910, after receiving 7,500 pesetas from the redemption of a ground rent paid by the Solervicens family for the Navarcles mill, the Town Council approved the development of the present Plaça de la Vila and the construction of a new municipal building to replace the old town hall in the Plaça Vella. The project was commissioned to the Manresa-born architect Ignasi Oms i Ponsa and was completed in 1912.
The Town Hall building presides over the Plaça de la Vila, with which it forms a single architectural ensemble, as both were built at the same time. The original building has been recently extended at the rear. It consists of a single rectangular block with a ground floor and an upper storey. The most significant feature is the main façade, which faces the square.
Although the architect Ignasi Oms was already fully immersed in his Catalan Art Nouveau period when he designed this work, the façade is a predominantly classical composition, showing only faint Art Nouveau touches in its decoration — for example, the wrought-iron work of the railings and the simple sgraffito beneath the roofline, which accentuates the varied heights of the crowning profile. The façade also features a broad balcony and, at its centre, the inscription: “Casa Consistorial. Año 1912”. The Art Nouveau façade that once existed at the rear of the building was lost during the 1960s.
The interior has been recently refurbished and preserves no original features except for two cast-iron columns. The current rear façade is sober in style and includes a large window overlooking the Parc Marcel·lí Monrós, as well as a prominent clock.
In 1910, the former town hall (demolished after the Spanish Civil War) stood in the Plaça Vella and was in danger of collapse. That same year, during the mayoralty of Joan Errasti, the council received 7,500 pesetas from the redemption of a ground rent paid by the Solervicens family for the Navarcles mill. It was then agreed to develop the present Plaça de la Vila and to construct a new municipal building.
The chosen site was an open plot of land, and the project represented an ambitious urban operation intended to connect several streets that had remained unlinked since their construction in the eighteenth century. The commission was awarded to the architect from Manresa, Ignasi Oms, and the work was completed in 1912.
The new building also housed the public schools until the 1960s, when new premises were constructed. During the 1930s, the ground floor of the new town hall also served as a municipally controlled meat market.
In 1969, the building underwent its first refurbishment to provide new offices on the ground floor. During these works, several Art Nouveau windows at the rear were lost. In 1970, the building became home to the Biblioteca Popular Sant Valentí.
In 1995, a new refurbishment project was commissioned from the Barcelona architect Joan Fabregat, carried out between 1997 and 1998. This intervention respected the Art Nouveau façade, restoring it to its original form and reinstating the sgraffito decoration. The works completely remodelled the interior and expanded the building with a new rear structure that harmoniously integrates with the original volume. This new façade enjoys fine views over Parc Marcel·lí Monrós.