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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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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:
2019-2026 Aureli Mora i Omar OrnaqueDocumental Commission:
2019-2026 Ramon Faura Carolina B. Garcia Eduard Callís Francesc Rafat Pau Albert Antoni López Daufí Joan Falgueras Mercè Bosch Jaume Farreny Anton Pàmies Juan Manuel Zaguirre Josep Ferrando Fernando Marzá Moisés Puente Aureli Mora Omar OrnaqueCollaborators:
2019-2026 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Maria Jesús Quintero Lucía M. Villodres Montse ViuExternal Collaborators:
2019-2026 Helena Cepeda Inès MartinelWith the support of:
Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de CulturaCollaborating Entities:
ArquinFADFundació Mies van der Rohe
Fundación DOCOMOMO Ibérico
Basílica de la Sagrada Família
Museu del Disseny de Barcelona
Fomento
AMB
EINA Centre Universitari de Disseny i Art de Barcelona
IEFC
Fundació Domènench Montaner.
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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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Memory
The building was to occupy a dual-aspect site facing Avinguda Diagonal and Carrer de Minerva, in Barcelona's most important business district. Naturally, the main façade, with pedestrian access, was located on Avinguda Diagonal, while vehicle access to the underground car parks was arranged at the rear façade. The administrative functions of the banking model are repeated: a succession of open-plan office levels designed for flexible distribution, subdivision, etc. In this case, the entity intended to occupy the two floors closest to the entrance (mezzanine and first floor) and the attic, leaving the rest of the space for rental office space. The ground floor was also freed up, designed as commercial premises behind a recessed façade that accentuated the entrance to the building. Due to the irregularity of the site, which could practically be considered a double site, the architects decided to locate the core at the centre of gravity of the plot's floor area. Almost by default, the building was divided into two parts: the block facing Avinguda Diagonal, with nine floors plus attics, and the block facing Carrer de Minerva, with four floors and an attic. The evolution of the project ended up defining the core as the hinge between the two buildings. The rest of the floor was organised in a grid that proposed changing rhythms (80, 120, 160, 140 cm), although the main axes were adjusted to a square grid of 80 cm and the directions of the diagonals of the double vertical square. This diagonal arrangement allowed a series of glass-fronted galleries to be fitted into the façade. The structure was used as a compositional motif for the façade, using a series of metal boars that triangulated the front portico on the first two levels, reducing the number of supports by half. The use of Corten steel refers to the industrial past of the bank's place of origin.
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Chronology
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Banco Industrial de Bilbao
Tous & Fargas, Josep Maria Fargas i Falp, Enric Tous i Carbó
The building was to occupy a dual-aspect site facing Avinguda Diagonal and Carrer de Minerva, in Barcelona's most important business district. Naturally, the main façade, with pedestrian access, was located on Avinguda Diagonal, while vehicle access to the underground car parks was arranged at the rear façade. The administrative functions of the banking model are repeated: a succession of open-plan office levels designed for flexible distribution, subdivision, etc. In this case, the entity intended to occupy the two floors closest to the entrance (mezzanine and first floor) and the attic, leaving the rest of the space for rental office space. The ground floor was also freed up, designed as commercial premises behind a recessed façade that accentuated the entrance to the building. Due to the irregularity of the site, which could practically be considered a double site, the architects decided to locate the core at the centre of gravity of the plot's floor area. Almost by default, the building was divided into two parts: the block facing Avinguda Diagonal, with nine floors plus attics, and the block facing Carrer de Minerva, with four floors and an attic. The evolution of the project ended up defining the core as the hinge between the two buildings. The rest of the floor was organised in a grid that proposed changing rhythms (80, 120, 160, 140 cm), although the main axes were adjusted to a square grid of 80 cm and the directions of the diagonals of the double vertical square. This diagonal arrangement allowed a series of glass-fronted galleries to be fitted into the façade. The structure was used as a compositional motif for the façade, using a series of metal boars that triangulated the front portico on the first two levels, reducing the number of supports by half. The use of Corten steel refers to the industrial past of the bank's place of origin. -
FAD Award
Shortlisted. Category: Architecture
Banco Industrial de BilbaoTous & Fargas, Josep Maria Fargas i Falp, Enric Tous i Carbó
FAD Award
Shortlisted. Category: Interior DesignBotiga Furest DiagonalCorrea Milá Arquitectes, Federico Correa Ruiz, Alfonso Milá Sagnier
Routes & Notes (1)
