How to get there
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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
close
close
Memory
In 1902, due to the growth that the Caixa de Sabadell was facing, it was decided to acquire a plot of land between the partitions in the centre of Sabadell to locate the entity's headquarters. It is known as the “Palau de l'Estalvi”, and has become a key piece in the modernist art scene.
The neo-Gothic building with a modernist interior was designed to house the cash office, the library and an assembly hall. It consists of three levels: basement, ground floor and first floor. The ground floor was originally occupied by the library, but it currently houses the offices for attention and service to the public, as well as the management and government offices of the institution. On this same floor there is a large porticoed hall. On the ground floor there is the Modernist Hall and the Council Room.
Inside the building, the use of carved stone with medieval and plant motifs stands out. The capitals of the columns stand out, sculpted with roses and sunflowers. A monument dedicated to the founder Pere Turull should be highlighted. In the main hall there are several polychrome stained-glass windows with representations alluding to Industry, Agriculture, Commerce, the State and the Clergy. The patio skylight is also decorated with stained glass.
The façade is made of stone, with two sculptures representing Virtue and Work. It is structured in three bodies: the central one is higher and has the plane of the façade shifted, standing out over the lateral ones, with less decoration and a pronounced horizontality and sobriety. Stained-glass windows and sgraffitos with floral and symbolic motifs are abundant.
To build the building, the managers of La Caixa called a tender between Catalan architects or residents of Catalonia. Five projects were submitted, but according to the jury, none of them met the expected conditions and one of them decided to entrust the project to one of the submitted projects, which was carried out by Jeroni Martorell.
The works began in 1906 and two years later, with the finished structure, interior decoration work began. In 1910, the works were partially stopped due to the parallel construction of the Industrial School of Arts and Crafts, the current headquarters of the Obra Social Caixa Sabadell. Since 1916, most of Caixa de Sabadell's services have been carried out in the new building.
Between 1968-1970, a refurbishment was carried out by the architect G. Bracons, modifying the ground floor and replacing the rear façade of tiles and stucco with a concrete one.
Authors
On the Map
Awarded
Cataloged
Disappeared
All works