Torre Picasso
Encyclopedia
Torre Picasso is a skyscraper in Madrid
, Spain
. From 1988 till 2007 it was the tallest building in Madrid with its 157 m (515 ft) and 43 floors. Torre Picasso is located next to the Pablo Picasso
Square, within the commercial complex AZCA
along the Paseo de la Castellana
. It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki
.
, for which constructions started in 1970. Five years later in 1975 planning of the tower was agreed. Unión de Explosivos Río Tinto, S.A., owner of the site, awarded the construction of the tower to American architect Minoru Yamakasi, in collaboration with architects Jorge Mir Valls and Rafael Coll Pujol. In 1980 Minoru Yamakasi received the license for building the highest office complex of Madrid.
Construction began late 1982, and the building was inaugurated in December 1988. During this period some unfortunate events happened and work was relaunched in 1985 by the new owners Portland Valderrivas S.A. and Inmobiliaria Asón S.A., under the direction of Architect Fernando Alas.
Torre Picasso was constructed by and is currently the property of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas
. It is currently managed by PER Gestora Inmobiliaria, S.L.
. However, the Torrespaña, a television tower, reaches higher with its 231 m (757.87 ft). Notable surrounding skyscrapers are Torre Europa
, Banco de Bilbao Tower
and Windsor Tower
, now demolished after a fire.
Since 2007, the Torre Espacio
surpassed the Picasso Tower. Since 2008/2009 three other buildings have surpassed its height: Torre Caja Madrid
, Torre de Cristal
and Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso
.
The Torre Picasso was also Spain's tallest building until in 2001 it was overtaken by the Gran Hotel Bali
in Benidorm
, Alicante
, Spain.
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Following information can be found on the official website of Torre Picasso:
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A notable feature of Torre Picasso is the wide entrance arch
, supporting the whole façade
over it, with an underground steel
structure serving to reinforce it. The gap under this arch is covered by a special security glass named STADIP (the one used in Torre Agbar
in Barcelona
).
In August 2004, the Otis Elevator Company
was awarded a contract to modernise the elevators in the building, to incorporate some of the most advanced elevator technology available.
While the owners present the tower as an emblematic symbol of Madrid for the citizens, for photography enthusiasts the tower has become a symbol of restriction and prohibition.
Madrid
Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. From 1988 till 2007 it was the tallest building in Madrid with its 157 m (515 ft) and 43 floors. Torre Picasso is located next to the Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Diego José Francisco de Paula Juan Nepomuceno María de los Remedios Cipriano de la Santísima Trinidad Ruiz y Picasso known as Pablo Ruiz Picasso was a Spanish expatriate painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer, one of the greatest and most influential artists of the...
Square, within the commercial complex AZCA
AZCA
Acronym for Asociación Mixta de Compensación de la Manzana A de la Zona Comercial de la Avenida del Generalísimo , in Madrid, Spain....
along the Paseo de la Castellana
Paseo de la Castellana
Paseo de la Castellana , commonly known as La Castellana, is one of the longest and widest avenues of Madrid. It is named after an old fountain that used to exist in Plaza de Castilla...
. It was designed by Minoru Yamasaki
Minoru Yamasaki
was a Japanese-American architect, best known for his design of the twin towers of the World Trade Center, buildings 1 and 2. Yamasaki was one of the most prominent architects of the 20th century...
.
Planning & Construction
The Torre Picasso was part of a plan to build a huge block of modern buildings in the expansion area of northern Madrid. This commercial area is better known as A.Z.C.A.AZCA
Acronym for Asociación Mixta de Compensación de la Manzana A de la Zona Comercial de la Avenida del Generalísimo , in Madrid, Spain....
, for which constructions started in 1970. Five years later in 1975 planning of the tower was agreed. Unión de Explosivos Río Tinto, S.A., owner of the site, awarded the construction of the tower to American architect Minoru Yamakasi, in collaboration with architects Jorge Mir Valls and Rafael Coll Pujol. In 1980 Minoru Yamakasi received the license for building the highest office complex of Madrid.
Construction began late 1982, and the building was inaugurated in December 1988. During this period some unfortunate events happened and work was relaunched in 1985 by the new owners Portland Valderrivas S.A. and Inmobiliaria Asón S.A., under the direction of Architect Fernando Alas.
Torre Picasso was constructed by and is currently the property of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas
Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas
Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas is a leading Spanish construction company based in Barcelona. It is publicly traded and is part of the IBEX 35.Over 50% of the shares are owned by a company controlled by Esther Koplowitz and others.-History:...
. It is currently managed by PER Gestora Inmobiliaria, S.L.
Skyline position
Since its inauguration, Torre Picasso has been Madrid's tallest office building, surpassing Torre de MadridTorre de Madrid
The Torre de Madrid is one of the tallest buildings in Madrid. It measures 142 metres in height, has 36 floors and was constructed between 1954 and 1957...
. However, the Torrespaña, a television tower, reaches higher with its 231 m (757.87 ft). Notable surrounding skyscrapers are Torre Europa
Torre Europa
The Torre Europa is a skyscraper located in the AZCA complex in Madrid, Spain.It is 121 metres high and has 30 floors.Completed in 1985, it was designed by Miguel Oriol e Ybarra and built by Necso....
, Banco de Bilbao Tower
Banco de Bilbao Tower
The Banco de Bilbao Tower is a 107m skyscraper in Madrid, Spain, within the AZCA financial district, and is currently the company's Madrid HQ. It was designed by the Spanish architect Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oiza, who won the private tender in 1971, convoked by the Banco de Bilbao, nowadays BBVA...
and Windsor Tower
Windsor Tower
The Windsor Tower was built in 1979 in the financial center of Madrid, Spain. This office building was 106 m high and had 32 floors of which 29 were above ground level and 3 below, thus ranking it as the eighth tallest building in Madrid...
, now demolished after a fire.
Since 2007, the Torre Espacio
Torre Espacio
The Torre Espacio is a skyscraper in Madrid, Spain. The skyscraper is 236 metres tall and has 57 floors....
surpassed the Picasso Tower. Since 2008/2009 three other buildings have surpassed its height: Torre Caja Madrid
Torre Caja Madrid
The Torre Caja Madrid is a skyscraper located in the Cuatro Torres Business Area in Madrid, Spain. With a height of and 45 floors, it is the tallest of the four buildings in the Cuatro Torres Business Area complex, surpassing Torre de Cristal by less than a metre, and the tallest building in...
, Torre de Cristal
Torre de Cristal
The Torre de Cristal is a skyscraper in the Cuatro Torres Business Area in Madrid , completed in 2008. With a final height of 249.5 metres, it ranks as the second tallest building in the country after neighbouring Torre Caja Madrid...
and Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso
Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso
The Torre PwC, formerly Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso, is a 52-floor 236 metre tall skyscraper, completed in 2008, located in Madrid, Spain. Torre Sacyr Vallehermoso is one of four buildings in the Cuatro Torres Business Area...
.
The Torre Picasso was also Spain's tallest building until in 2001 it was overtaken by the Gran Hotel Bali
Gran Hotel Bali
Gran Hotel Bali is a 4-star hotel located in Benidorm, province of Alicante, Spain. It is, with 186 metres height , the tallest hotel in Europe and one of the tallest skyscrapers in Europe...
in Benidorm
Benidorm
Benidorm is a coastal town and municipality located in the comarca of Marina Baixa, in the province of Alicante, Valencian community, Spain, by the Western Mediterranean....
, Alicante
Alicante (province)
Alicante or Alacant is a province of eastern Spain, in the southern part of the Valencian Community. It is bordered by the provinces of Murcia on the southwest, Albacete on the west, Valencia on the north, and the Mediterranean Sea on the east...
, Spain.
Events
- Shortly after 9/11September 11, 2001 attacksThe September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks (also referred to as September 11, September 11th or 9/119/11 is pronounced "nine eleven". The slash is not part of the pronunciation...
, ETAETAETA , an acronym for Euskadi Ta Askatasuna is an armed Basque nationalist and separatist organization. The group was founded in 1959 and has since evolved from a group promoting traditional Basque culture to a paramilitary group with the goal of gaining independence for the Greater Basque Country...
allegedly confirmed that in 1999 they had planned to demolish this skyscraper using the 1,700 kg of explosives loaded into two Madrid-bound vans intercepted that year near CalatayudCalatayudCalatayud is a city and municipality in the province of Zaragoza in Aragón, Spain lying on the river Jalón, in the midst of the Sistema Ibérico mountain range. It is the second-largest city in the province after the capital, Zaragoza, and the largest town in Aragón other than the three provincial...
(ZaragozaZaragoza (province)Zaragoza is a province of northern Spain, in the central part of the autonomous community of Aragon.Its capital is Zaragoza, which is also the capital of the autonomous community. Other towns in Zaragoza include Calatayud, Borja, La Almunia de Doña Godina, Ejea de los Caballeros and Tarazona.Its...
) by the Spanish Civil Guard (the first stopped en route on December 21 and the second found not far from there the next day; an incident known as "la caravana de la muerte", the caravan of death).
Figures and statistics
- Height: 157 m (515.09 ft) above ground (171 m (561.02 ft) including basement)
- 43 floors
- 5 basement floors (1st is commercial area, others are parking lots)
- down floor is used as main entry
- 42 floors for offices
- 44th floor used for machinery, e.g. the air conditioning distribution system
- 45th floor used for the heliport
- Area: 71700 m² (85,752 sq yd) office space, 121000 m² (144,715 sq yd) in total
- Size per floor: 38 by 50 m (124.7 by 164 )
- 26 elevators, of which 18 to office floors in 3 groups of 6:
- 1st-18th floors at 2.5 m/s
- 18th-32nd floors at 4 m/s
- 32nd-43rd floors at 6 m/s (apparently fastest in Spain)
- Glass façade surface: 9000 m² (10,764 sq yd)
- Parking space: 837
- Foreseen population: 6,000 persons
- Daily visitors: 1,500 persons
Architecture
Arch
An arch is a structure that spans a space and supports a load. Arches appeared as early as the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamian brick architecture and their systematic use started with the Ancient Romans who were the first to apply the technique to a wide range of structures.-Technical aspects:The...
, supporting the whole façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
over it, with an underground steel
Steel
Steel is an alloy that consists mostly of iron and has a carbon content between 0.2% and 2.1% by weight, depending on the grade. Carbon is the most common alloying material for iron, but various other alloying elements are used, such as manganese, chromium, vanadium, and tungsten...
structure serving to reinforce it. The gap under this arch is covered by a special security glass named STADIP (the one used in Torre Agbar
Torre Agbar
The Torre Agbar is a 38-storey tower located between Avinguda Diagonal and Carrer Badajoz, near Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, which marks the gateway to the new technological district of Barcelona, Spain. It was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel in association with the Spanish firm B720...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
).
In August 2004, the Otis Elevator Company
Otis Elevator Company
The Otis Elevator Company is the world's largest manufacturer of vertical transportation systems today, principally focusing on elevators and escalators...
was awarded a contract to modernise the elevators in the building, to incorporate some of the most advanced elevator technology available.
Cultural depictions
- It used to have in the past the Canal+ TV studios
- It was featured in the last scenes of Alejandro AmenábarAlejandro AmenábarAlejandro Fernando Amenábar Cantos is a Spanish- Chilean film director. Amenábar was born in Santiago, Chile to a Spanish mother and Chilean father, but the family moved to Spain just one year after his birth...
's 1997 movie Open Your Eyes. Leading character César (portrayed by Eduardo NoriegaEduardo Noriega (Spanish actor)Eduardo Noriega Gómez is a Spanish film actor, perhaps best known for his roles in two Alejandro Amenábar films, the multiple Goya Award-winning Tesis and Open Your Eyes . He also starred in The Wolf...
) commits suicide by jumping off the Torre Picasso.
Photography
It is strictly forbidden to take any photos of the tower or any other construction from within the perimeter of the property. Guards will demand you leave the premises at the mere sight of your camera, citing security concerns and image rights. Nevertheless, guards have proven unable to present any applicable regulation in writing or refer to the relevant authority in order to request permission to shoot.While the owners present the tower as an emblematic symbol of Madrid for the citizens, for photography enthusiasts the tower has become a symbol of restriction and prohibition.
External links
- Official website of Torre Picasso
- Torre Picasso at Google Maps
- Torre Picasso at Flickr
- Torre Picasso, description and pictures