if walking by Madrid you run into a building that reminds you of those two towers that fell in September 2001 in New York, well you are not wrong. It's about the Picasso Tower, designed by the same architect of the World Trade Center.
Today I tell you all about this Madrid skyscraper, Picasso Tower.
Picasso Tower
Minoru Yamazaki was the architect who designed this building and although died in 1986 He is considered one of the most important architects of the XNUMXth century. Of japanese parents, was born in the state of Washington in 1912 and although he did not belong to a wealthy family, he was able to complete his university studies.
Yamazaki escaped from the confinement to which the US government subjected the Japanese community during World War II, and after the conflict he opened his own studio. The World Trade Center project began in 1965., which ended in 1973. In addition to this emblematic building bears his signature the Consulate of the United States in Kobe, Japan, the St Louis Airport, in Missouri, the terminal at the Dharan Airport, in Saudi Arabia and the Picasso Tower, in Madrid, among others.
Rio Tinto Explosives was a large Spanish company, active in the second half of the XNUMXth century. It was a very large company, with many subsidiaries and businesses related to the chemical, petrochemical, explosives, mining, and metallurgical industries, among others. It was this company that he commissioned the construction of the Torre Picasso, which began only in 1980.
The works did not flow easily and were stopped several times, sometimes for financial problems. Thus, the construction took nine years, so the Picasso Tower was inaugurated at the beginning of 1989. used to be for a long time the tallest building in Madrid.
Regarding the works, it must first be said that the land on which it was built has an area of 10.000 square meters and that the constructed area is 121.000 square meters. It is located in Pablo Ruiz Picasso SquareWithin the AZCA business and commercial complex, on Paseo de la Castellana which is the financial center of Madrid.
This special area, AZCAm, was born in the '80s from the need for the city to have an area that could be residential, commercial and financial at the same time. The Picasso Tower is not the only one around here, coexists with the Torre del Banco de Bilbao, the Torre Mahou, the Torre Europa, all more than 100 meters high, and at some point, with the missing Windsor Tower.
What is the Picasso Tower like? It is a building 45 rectangular floors measuring 38 by 50 meters and 157 meters high above ground, and 171 meters from the 5th basement. There is a technical plant of 1000 square meters with offices, 71.700 square meters with entrance halls and shops, 8.300 square meters and parking lots and technical rooms that occupy 40 square meters.
On the ground floor there is 42 floors for offices, while on the ground floor is the access with the 18 lifts, divided in turn into three groups of six. The elevators that link floors 1 to 18 move at a speed of 2.5 meters per second. Those that go from the 18th to the 32nd floor do so at four seconds per second, and those that go from the 32nd to the 42nd floor do so at a super speed of six meters per second. So, They are the fastest in Spain.
Now, each plant is rectangular in shape and has 1900 square meters. In the center are the elevators and stairs, the technical rooms, bathrooms, and the chimney through which the ventilation gases from the underground AZCA roads rise. Above all is the roof, on the 44th floor, with its cooling towers and everything that has to do with the air conditioning system.
One floor above, at 45, is the machinery for the elevator system and the helipad. And what is under the ground? As we said above there are five basements below street level. In the first there is a commercial area with parking, and basements 2, 3 and 4 are mostly parking spaces.
The maximum capacity to park cars ensures that no one is left without space to leave their car. After all more than five thousand people circulate around the Torre Picasso per day. The machine rooms are also located in these basements, but in the fifth basement we find the service galleries.
What materials is the Picasso Tower made of? El reinforced concrete it is what has made this and other wonders of XNUMXth century architecture possible. Reinforced concrete, base with metal pillars and beams they make up the skeleton that elevates it to the heights. At the same time, fireproof mortar It protects it from eventual and undesirable fires. The hollow cube that is formed with the four sides of the façade, plus the central core of steel pillars and the internal and external structures give shape to a simple structure that manages to come out airy from seismic movements and wind.
Under the ground the Torre Picasso It is founded with 120 piles with sheet metal sleeves. 1,80 meters in diameter and 16 long. The core of the building is a metallic skeleton of 38 double-height pillars. The perimeter, from the basement to the second floor, is a concrete wall, and it is also formed from the second floor to the top, with 56 double-height pillars. Finally, the sheet metal and reinforced concrete floors They give great density to the concrete.
The Picasso Tower façade combines aluminum cladding with thermal glass. They are arranged vertically and between the pillars they leave space for windows. Thus, the building has a quite successful thermal and acoustic insulation. the interior has marble in common areas, fire retardant carpets and also there are gardens around the tower with covered access paths.
It is considered that the architect Yamazaki has displayed here many characteristic elements of his style, clearly influenced by the oriental art in its simple but artistic forms at the same time. The result is this nice, simple, modern and elegant skyscraper that even has appeared in Spanish cinema by the hand of Alejandro Amenabar in his 1997 film, Open your eyes.
Today the Torre Picasso is in the hands of the investment company Pontegadea and works as an office building. For example, Google is based here and the same Delotte or Accenture. Finally, let us remember that Picasso Tower was the tallest building in Spain for 14 years. Later, the Gran Hotel Bali in Benidorm stole his position.