Intro

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Historical Archive which, thanks to its documental richness, provides a large amount of valuable –and in some cases unpublished– graphic documentation.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.

Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque
Directors arquitecturacatalana.cat

credits

About us

Project by:

Created by:

Directors:

2019-2024 Aureli Mora i Omar Ornaque

Documental 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 Ornaque

External Collaborators:

2019-2024 Lluis Andreu Sergi Ballester Helena Cepeda Inès Martinel Maria Jesús Quintero

With the support of:

Generalitat de Catalunya. Departament de Cultura

Collaborating Entities:

ArquinFAD

 

Fundació 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

Design & Development:

edittio Nubilum
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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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  • Terrassa City Council

    Lluís Muncunill i Parellada

    Terrassa City Council

    Built to house a city council, with a meeting room and offices. The façade of the meeting room is built with Montjuich stone. However, this room and the town hall are carried out with plaster coffered ceilings, while the grand stone staircase is topped with stained-glass. Construction of bricks, hydraulic mortar and red pine wood; tile and concrete vaults; common or Arabic tile roof, whitewashed tile and Flanders wood. The flooring of the lobby is executed in hard stone from Montjuich and Sant Vicenç de Castellet, with lime or white plaster plastering. The sculptural part of the central body and the façade remains unfinished. The initial project was a bit varied. Restoration in 1943. In 1898 the City Council swaps its own building for the Industrial Institute building: the acquired building (former Galí house) is demolished for the new one. The current construction, according to a project made in 1900, was retouched and completed in 1903-04 by the architect Antoni Pasqual i Carratero. The inauguration was in occasion of the Festa Major of 1903 (July). Extensions with the annexation of two adjoining houses, one of them the former Courthouse, and a new three-storey building built in 1959-1960 took place. It was occupied by members of the FAI on the night of February 14 to 15, 1932. It currently has the potential for major expansion due to the acquisition of the large Catex S.A. factory, which faces the City Hall courtyard and pavilions. The reconstruction of the upper floor, the beams and façade are planned.

    1900

  • 1901

  • Gran Hotel Peninsular

    Lluís Muncunill i Parellada

    Gran Hotel Peninsular

    Building between partitions, ground floor and three landings. The façade has a very flat composition, symmetrical and with two openings per floor. The ground floor has a double portal, the first floor has a double iron balcony supported by corbels and rounded edges, and on the upper floors there are individual balconies of wavy shapes also made of iron. The top of the building is made with a cornice and toothed gables that reinforce the vertical composition of the openings. The façade is made of stucco and it has ornaments of floral motifs on the lintels and under the balconies. The tax line is at the level of the balconies on the top floor, with an attempt to integrate with the neighbouring buildings.

    1903

  • 1904

  • Farnés Department Store

    Lluís Muncunill i Parellada

    Farnés Department Store

    Building between partitions with ground floor and two landings. It presents a symmetrical façade with a vertical outline, this one accentuated by the size and the format of the openings, in parabolic arches that connect in an upward direction until ending in stepped gables in the first place and in an arch at the top. The ground floor has two parabolic arches with buttressed sandstone reliefs. The first floor has an iron balcony and moulded cement profiles in the arches. The second floor has the same layout and balconies. It presents the cornice crowning that follows the gables. The façade has a stone plinth and the rest is plastered in grey. The interior floor is divided into two areas divided by a monumental staircase. The floors are walled with a typical Catalan vault support by iron beams. The back of the first floor, which is under the roof, is covered by a brick vault supported by braces. The third floor, only partially built, has a crystal skylight shaped like saw teeth. The carpentry and forging work should be highlighted. It is a very representative example of Muncunill's adaptation of the classic type of house to turn it into an industrial building without the need to alter the image of the city. It participates in the most typical stylistic currents of the moment. It was built at the request of Joaquim Alegre and was a textile warehouse until it was abandoned. Finally, the property passed to a real estate agency in Barcelona. The defunct "Grup d'Arquitectes de Terrassa" had a brilliant and efficient action to save the building from destruction. Later, at the end of the 1970s, it was acquired by Manuel Tobella i Marcet to install the archive that bears his name – a foundation dedicated to the city where a series of private collections are already of public use of photography, programmes and local brochures, in addition to various documentation. The entity is governed by a board, has a staff, library and organises cultural activities and publishes works of local interest.

    1904 - 1905

  • Aymerich, Amat i Jover Factory Building

    Lluís Muncunill i Parellada

    Aymerich, Amat i Jover Factory Building

    Of all the industrial buildings built by Muncunill in Terrassa, the Aymerich, Amat i Jover factory is the most significant one, both for its dimensions and for the construction procedures used. It occupies an area of 15,000 square metres, of which 12,000 correspond to the large engine room. It is a large space with seven bodies arranged on cast iron columns and covered with flat brick vaults and braces. The nave receives light through openings oriented to the north, which adopt a sawtooth arrangement. Each turn is of circular generator and arbitrary directive. The guideline rests on two sections of the nave and is located on two arches, one recessed and the other elliptical. The generatrix draws a very lowered arc. The vault is bent to facilitate the insulation of the ship. Each vault is formed by three tiles and is separated by small brick partitions that leave an air layer of 15 centimetres. Each turn is held by straps of thirty millimetres in diametre. In this way, diffuse and equal lighting is achieved throughout the nave.

    1907 - 1908

  • 1909

  • Masia Freixa

    Lluís Muncunill i Parellada

    Masia Freixa

    The "farmhouse" is the result of the refurbishment and rehabilitation of an existing industrial building. In 1907, the firm Freixa i Sans decided to build a new building for the manufacture of alpacas. Muncunill preserves the structure of the old factory in its entirety and operates a job of superimposing new elements. Flat brick vaults supported by braces on brick bands rest on the old walls. In addition, the wall is bent on the inner side for the placement of doors and windows. The rest of the interventions tend to substantially modify the visual effect produced by the building. The walls are plastered white. On the south side the great gallery is opened, formed by a succession of parabolic arches, in eight sections, on a wide pavement that draws wavy shapes. Each section is covered by a small dome tuned to those covering the central sector. A large arch closes this gallery on the west side, covered by a dome that stands out from the others. Later, two more floors were added, destined for the kitchen and service rooms.

    1907 - 1910

  • Sagrat Cor de Jesús Chapel

    Josep Maria Coll i Bacardí

    Sagrat Cor de Jesús Chapel

    Hermitage of small dimensions, with a nave and a roof with a flat brick parabolic vault. The apse is hexagonal and is covered with three pointed vaults that intersect with the nave by means of ridges, and with a pointed arch window in each of the three pinions of the walls of the apse. It is made of brick and white stucco, bordered with a plinth made of pebbles. The main façade has a steeple bell tower over the access door, which remains hidden by the attached construction later and next to the nave which reduces its quality. It is located on top of an artificial hill, caused by the subsidence of the land.

    1910

  • Alegre de Sagrera House

    Melcior Viñals i Muñoz

    Alegre de Sagrera House

    Manor house consisting of a rectangular body parallel to the street, where the main rooms of the house are located, of which three are preserved in their original state. At the beginning of the 20th century, it was considerably renovated and expanded, with two ground-floor buildings and two attached floors in the middle of the old building, forming a u-shaped courtyard that opens onto a large garden, which is accessed via Carrer del Cardaire (or Sant Fruitós). M. Viñals refurbished the street façade. This is a symmetrical, with a ground floor and two floors, with two higher bodies at the ends. It has balconies on the first floor and a rhythm of gallery-like windows on the second floor. The upper finish is made with a cornice rich in classic ornamental elements following an eclectic style. J. Puig i Cadafalch refurbished the interior: ground floor, grand staircase, rear extension and wrought iron tribune with leaded stained-glass windows that overlooks the courtyard, using his characteristic language of Flemish influence within the modernist style. The 18th-century wall paintings on the main floor and the 19th-century paintings by Alexandre de Riquer in the downstairs hall and main staircase stand out. Former stately home where Joaquim de Sagrera i Domènech was born in 1777, he is celebrated for his active intervention in the French War and for the importance and expansion of his textile company. During the 19th century, the house suffered some vicissitudes in the rich architectural and decorative heritage it already had. It was deeply refurbished and restored in 1912 by the descendants of the family, who entrusted the work to the two architects mentioned. Some press campaigns and the action of the Museum Board prevented the demolition of the house in 1965. In 1973, with the financial help of the Caixa d'Estalvis de Terrassa, the city council acquired the building and it was destined for a museum. It contains several collections and they continue to restore the 18th-century style of its rooms.

    1911 - 1912

  • Baumann House

    Josep Maria Coll i Bacardí

    Baumann House

    Detached house of remarkable dimensions, located above the Vallparadís Park and surrounded by gardens. It has a rectangular plan and is made up of several bodies. The rear body possibly resulted from the 1926 extension made by Masdeu, who turned it into his own house. The bodies are of different height and shape, resulting in an interesting game of volumes. The façades are plastered and sgraffito, influenced by the Viennese Secession, very flat and with a succession of narrow vertical openings that create a perfect rhythm between the voids and the wall. It has sloping roofs of glazed tiles, except in the highest body, which takes the form of a quadrangular tower topped by a terrace. It is worth highlighting the black, caramel yellow, specially designed ceramic tiles. The garden fence is also interesting, with pillars decorated with polychrome mosaic and joined with a wrought iron railing. This stately home, which had a beautiful garden, is located on the banks of the Vallparadís stream, above the left bank and next to Pont del Passeig, setting up the beginning of Avinguda Jacquard. Apart from the Masdeu family, who renovated the building in 1926, another owner was Baumann, an industrialist who gave it the name by which the house is known today. It had been proposed, unofficially, that this name be changed to "Casa Coll i Bacardí", taking the name of its architect. The house was once inhabited by its creator, the architect Coll i Bacardí, but he died in 1917. Ernst Baumann, a wool representative who came from Switzerland, used the house for housing and offices until he left the business and the house near 1960. He continued that wool business in Josep Colomer i Montmany, until about five years ago. Then it was definitively abandoned until it was acquired by the Terrassa City Council to adapt it to museum facilities. In the 1990s, conveniently restored, it was used as the seat of the Youth Service of the Terrassa City Council.

    1913

  • Torras Department Store

    Melcior Viñals i Muñoz

    Torras Department Store

    Building located at the junction of two streets and with a partition. With an triangular plan, consists of a ground floor and a floor, using the first one for commercial use and the upper one as housing for the owners. The corner-shaped building presents two horizontal bodies differentiated by the large balcony on the first floor that runs along the entire façade, leaving the ground floor and mezzanine as a plinth supporting the rest. The openings on the ground floor have been refurbished, although with great care of integration, maintaining the mosaic border that separates the storefronts from the mezzanine. The openings on the first floor retain all the original decoration, with dust guards and reliefs on uprights. The building is finished with a moulded gable flanked by two pinnacles. The rest of the building's decoration follows the same treatment. The façade is made of stucco drawing ashlar lines.

    1914

  • 1915

  • Pere Font i Batallé Factory

    Lluís Muncunill i Parellada

    Pere Font i Batallé Factory

    Isolated industrial building that is part of a wider complex, but of less interest. It is rectangular in floor plan, two stories high and roofed with Catalan vaults. The structure of the intermediate slab is also similar to the tensioned Catalan vault. The entire work is clad in exposed brick, with a lowered arch opening in flattened brick as the only decorative element. The façade is punctuated by pilasters and curved cornices, with a blunt profile, which make the Catalan-style vaulting structure of the roof visible and at the same time make up the spaces where the windows open.

    1916

  • Casa del Bunyolero

    Josep Maria Coll i Bacardí

    Casa del Bunyolero

    Building between partitions, ground floor and four landings. Façade of symmetrical composition with large balconies with a horizontal rhythm that balance the openings, which follow a vertical rhythm. Interesting building due to its exterior decoration, with majolica that covers the entire façade, reaching up to the upper part, composed of a cornice and a wavy ceramic railing. The majolica pattern, which rests on white backgrounds, frames the openings of the balconies and creates horizontal borders on each floor, at the same time that it fills the gaps between the walls with panels of floral motifs (garlands, pendants, flowers). The railings of the balconies are made of wrought iron, also reproducing floral motifs. Ground floor currently renovated for commercial premises.
  • Izard Factory

    Lluís Muncunill i Parellada

    Izard Factory

    Building with a rectangular plan, subdivided longitudinally into two industrial units, with an interior structure of cast iron columns that support four-pointed vaults made of bricks, reflected on the outside by semi-spherical volumes and crowned by ventilation turrets also made of brick. In front of the unit there is an urbanised area, where the lower part of the old steam chimney has been preserved. The origin of Vapor Amat can be situated in 1833. Later, in 1876, it was greatly refurbished. In 1914, the factory of Francesc Izard and Ramon Codina was installed in Vapor Amat under the name of Izard i Cia and, a few years later, they became a limited company adopting the name SA Manufactura Tèxtil. In 1969, the company became associated with the Central de Acabados Textiles, SA (CATEX) company. However, the naves that are preserved were built and renovated in 1925 by the architect Lluís Muncunill i Parellada. Later, in 1935, there was an intervention by the architect Joan Baca i Reixach. In 1982, the old dye warehouse was transformed into a municipal exhibition hall, according to a project by the architect Francesc Bacardit i Segués from Terrassa. The most modern building was rehabilitated to house the Theatre Institute.

    1921

  • 1949

  • Ramón y Cajal School Group

    Josep Anton Balcells Gorina, Josep Pratmarsó i Parera

    In Terrassa there had long been a need to educate a large number of boys and girls who belonged to immigrant families. To solve this problem, the city council acquired three plots of land located on the outskirts of the city, precisely in the areas where the school-age population was most neglected. Analysing this situation, certain political and social parallels could be found with the Catalan national schooling programme proposed by the Republican Generalitat and the GATCPAC in the 1930s. For the three school groups, a common programme was drawn up and the need to standardise as many construction elements as possible was raised to reduce construction costs. Based on these premises and to achieve maximum simplicity and clarity of distribution, the architects proposed differentiating the different blocks and playgrounds, connecting the blocks through the gymnasium-function room, orienting and ventilating the classrooms as best as possible, and standardising the elements, constructions and simplify the structure as much as possible. Taking these guidelines into account, the projects ended up being the result of adapting the school programme to the terrain. The structural system has been standardised for the three school groups and a uniform orthogonal reinforced concrete framework has been used that is evident on the exterior to give an air of constructive sincerity to the complex. This decision responds to economic reasons, but also cultural ones, since it follows the postulates of Grup R to “rescue” the modern movement that had developed during the Republic. Furthermore, the use of load-bearing walls would have made the construction of large windows difficult. The specific function of each building, however, is expressed through the enclosures, which can be opaque or transparent depending on the spatial and lighting needs of the interior (blind walls in the assembly rooms and heavily glazed in the classrooms).

    1960

  • Germans Amat School Group

    Oriol Bohigas i Guardiola, Josep Maria Martorell i Codina, Josep Pratmarsó i Parera

    Germans Amat School Group

    In Terrassa there had long been a need to educate a large number of boys and girls who belonged to immigrant families. To solve this problem, the city council acquired three plots of land located on the outskirts of the city, precisely in the areas where the school-age population was most neglected. Analysing this situation, certain political and social parallels could be found with the Catalan national schooling programme proposed by the Republican Generalitat and the GATCPAC in the 1930s. For the three school groups, a common programme was drawn up and the need to standardise as many construction elements as possible was raised to reduce construction costs as much as possible. Based on these premises and to achieve maximum simplicity and clarity of distribution, the architects proposed differentiating the different blocks and playgrounds, connecting the blocks through the gym-function room, orienting and ventilating the classrooms as best as possible, and standardising the constructions and simplifying the structure as much as possible. Taking these guidelines into account, the projects ended up being the result of adapting the school programme to the terrain. The structural system has been standardised for the three school groups and a uniform orthogonal reinforced concrete framework has been used that is evident on the exterior to give an air of constructive sincerity to the complex. This decision responds to economic reasons, but also cultural ones, since it follows the postulates of Grup R to “rescue” the modern movement that had developed during the Republic. Furthermore, the use of load-bearing walls would have made the construction of large windows difficult. The specific function of each building, however, is expressed through the enclosures, which can be opaque or transparent depending on the spatial and lighting needs of the interior (blind walls in the assembly rooms and heavily glazed in the classrooms).
  • 1961 - 1965

  • 1969

  • Francesc Aldea School

    Bach-Mora Arquitectes, Jaume Bach i Núñez, Gabriel Mora i Gramunt

    Francesc Aldea School

    Located in Terrassa, in what used to be a fantastic landscape and which is currently a meeting point of various images such as a motorway, a supermarket, an area of blocks and an urbanisation of marginal housing, the school needed a strong and unitary image that would distinguish it from the expressive chaos that surrounds it. Therefore, it is designed to resemble old industrial warehouses or agricultural buildings from the beginning of the century, easily identifiable and with its own specific weight. The school is located parallel to the access. The slope of the land allows a gap between the two bodies of the building, a difference in level that is used to give greater height to the assembly hall, emphasising the symbolic nature of this space.

    1982 - 1983

  • Terrassa Olympic Stadium

    Bach-Mora Arquitectes, Jaume Bach i Núñez, Gabriel Mora i Gramunt

    Terrassa Olympic Stadium

    The Abat Marcet sports area in Terrassa, with an extension of about 14ha, had to be remodeled to host the field hockey competitions of the 1992 Summer Olympics. The treatment of the main piece was the origin of the entire intervention. It is an unfinished semi-underground stadium with two levels of stands. The creation of a third level in height is not recommended and it is proposed to bury those that would have been emerging parts so as not to enter into a competition with the neighbouring buildings and the view of the periphery. On the other hand, the main tribune is aired, and the iron structures are distinguished from the concrete ones, pushing back the tension pillar of the main section and obtaining a long and curved "stoa" of fine pillars as a new and emblematic façade. Four high metal lighting towers, counterbalanced by light canopies in unstable balance emphasise the corners. The rest of the areas are treated, consequently, in the same way: modelling of the horizontal space through terraces, walls, passable roofs - such as the entrance to the semi-underground gym -, punctuated by a field of objects such as triangular skylights, lighting towers, large, curved roofs in isolated pieces...

    1989 - 1991

  • 1985 - 1996

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