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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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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
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.
Memory
Since Hispania opened its doors as a restaurant in 1957 - it had been a garage in previous years - 52 years have passed. The Reixach family has run this historic establishment with unprecedented success and its notability has transcended state borders. Today's Hispania is cataloged by the country's main guides as one of the best restaurants in Spain, and the Reixach sisters, the current owners, have been awarded countless prizes and recognitions.
Hispania is therefore a monument to gastronomy and as such it is difficult to propose to modify or expand it without losing the magic that half a century of history has conferred on it. For this reason, the task we received to design a deep reform of the premises filled us with concern, for the complexity of the place and for its significance in the history of Catalan cuisine, but also with enthusiasm for what it represented a challenge to intervene profitably and skillfully in a space so full of memories.
Surprisingly, the owners let the architects suggest where and how to act, a responsibility that has weighed on the authors until the results have finally been seen and verified.
Therefore, we chose a solution that seemed the most neutral to us, which interfered less with the history of the house. And, in an adjoining garden, attached to the façade of the main building, we projected a glass pavilion, light, transparent and aerial, supported by only two points on the base of the garden. The metal structure building is covered by means of a prestressing central truss allowing it to be built in just 3 and a half months thanks to the systems manufactured in the workshop and the use of self-supporting thermochip panels. With total exterior measurements of 16.45 x 5.00 x 3.50m high, the space is configured as a single room connected to the old dining room through a body-belly that acts as a pre-hallway and separates the two spaces, the new and the old.
A demanding performance in terms of acoustic behaviour, with the base of ecofont panels and perimeter walls of scratched wood, ensures surprising environmental comfort, which is complemented by other materials such as oak parquet on the floor, fabric roll-up curtains on the perimeter glass and the chairs covered in quality upholstery give the space a sense of well-being that the Hispania customer appreciates.
The modular distribution based on mobile auxiliary furniture allows the configuration of the new dining room to be easily varied, while the lighting, programmed by computer, nuances and precisely matches the desired scenarios.
The dining room has already come into use and its relationship with the historic room has proven not only compatible but extraordinarily complementary. In fact, it is gaining importance given its round shapes, its bright and comfortable space and its cozy and versatile furniture.
The history of Hispania will be able to continue its path without setbacks. Its new dining room will become another chapter that will be written, with admirable vocation, by its owners and masterful cooks, Paquita and Lolita Reixach.
