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The Centre
About us
The new Open Centre for Architecture is a space for architectural knowledge and culture, for forging links between architecture and society, promoting research and strengthening its role in innovation. A new cultural go-between that aims to lead the way in the national sphere and project itself at the international level.
The wealth of its collection (Historical Archive, Photographic Archive, Library, arquitecturacatalana.cat, etc.) and the intense cultural activity in which is engages, spread over multiple branches in 11 locations, give the Open Centre its own history and personality and allow it to contribute to the architectural debate and place it at the service of the public.
Promoted by the Architects’ Association of Catalonia (COAC), the dichotomy expressed by its name – the Open Centre – reflects its desire to bring together in order to disseminate, to welcome in order to discover, to exhibit in order to enjoy.
Who
Director of the Open Centre for Architecture
Josep Ferrando
· Architect from Barcelona and director of the Josep Ferrando Architecture studio
· Board member of the Architects’ Association of Catalonia
· Director of the La Salle School of Architecture (ETSALS). Since 1998, project lecturer at numerous European and American universities
· Exhibitions and monographic shows in Venice, Berlin, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago de Chile
· Winner of FAD, Delta-FAD, XV BEAU and BIABA’15 awards and nominated for the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award
Advisory Committee
· Director of the Open Centre for Architecture
· Dean of the Architects’ Association of Catalonia
· Vice-dean of the Architects’ Association of Catalonia
· Members of the Culture Committee of the Architects’ Association of Catalonia branches
· Two architects of international prestige
Where
Strategic Pillars
The contemporary world is experiencing a profound global paradigm shift that impacts on all aspects of architecture. The reality of climate change urges us to seek new ways to intervene in the planet and put a stop to its environmental degradation, while social changes have ushered in new ways of living and relating to others, and have revealed serious shortcomings and inequalities.
The Open Centre accepts the commitments of architecture and architects towards both habitats and inhabitants, making these its two main areas of knowledge so as to seek answers and be an active agent of change. And it is within this framework that it carries out its research and dissemination work.
