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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.
The aim was to build a chapel adjoining a care home for elderly women, on a trapezoidal plot. The care home was situated parallel to Carrer Domínguez Miralles, thereby creating a larger south-facing garden area. Two problems arose in the initial planning of the project: the first was to determine the exact location of the chapel within the complex, so that it would not cast shadows over the care home; and the second was to find a suitable solution to the significant difference in level on the site itself. The chosen solution involved avoiding the construction of a large retaining wall and replacing it with concrete buttresses, linked together by exposed masonry arches, which in turn act as large planters. These buttresses extend to form ribs that create the chapel’s volumetric envelope and structural elements; their conical shape minimises any potential shadows cast over the residence. The chapel has a heptagonal floor plan, with exposed brickwork on the lower section both internally and externally. The rest of the enclosure is formed by arched vaults of hollow bricks running from rib to rib. The glazed finish of these hollow bricks is the work of Jordi Aguadé. Light enters through leaded windows (the work of Vila Grau) situated between the masonry wall and the vaulted arches, creating a rippling effect of colours that envelop the space. Lighting is also provided by a dome crowning the highest point of the chapel. The white surfaces of the vaulted arches, the exposed brickwork, the grey colour of the concrete, the stoneware flooring and the wooden elements of the confessional, door and sacristy are fundamental features of the building. Also noteworthy is a crucifix by the sculptor Fita.