Torre Picasso

Torre Picasso
General information
Location	Pablo Picasso Square, Paseo de la Castellana, Madrid, Spain
Coordinates	40°27′01″N 3°41′33″W
Owner	Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas
Management	PER Gestora Inmobiliaria, S.L.
Height
Roof	157 m (515 ft)
Top floor	43
Technical details
Floor count	51
Floor area	121,000 m2 (1,302,000 sq ft)
Lifts/elevators	26
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Minoru Yamasaki; in collaboration with Jorge Mir Valls and Rafael Coll Pujol

Torre Picasso (Picasso Tower) is a skyscraper in Madrid, Spain. From 1988 till 2007 it was the highest 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.

History

This building was constructed by and is currently the property of Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas; it is currently managed by PER Gestora Inmobiliaria, S.L.

Construction began in late 1982, and the building was inaugurated in December 1988. Since then, this has been Madrid's tallest office building, surpassing Torre de Madrid. However, the Torrespaña, a television tower, reaches higher with its 231 m (757.87 ft).

Since 2007, the Torre Espacio surpassed the Picasso Tower. Three other buildings are on their way to even go higher in 2008: 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.

Height

• Height: 157 m (515 ft) above ground (171 m above the lowest basement)
• Floors: 43 inhabitable floors above ground (ground-floor hall, 42 office floors), 5 basements, 2 upper floors for machinery
• Area: 71,700 m² office space (121,000 m² total)
• Size per floor: 38 m x 50 m
• Elevators: 26 (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)
• Parking space: 837
• Foreseen population: 6,000 persons
• Daily visitors: 1,500 persons

Design

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).

It has studios for the Spanish TV channel Canal +. It was featured in the last scenes of Alejandro Amenábar's 1997 film Abre Los Ojos.

Shortly after 9/11, ETA 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 Calatayud (Zaragoza) by the Spanish Civil Guard (the first stopped en route on December 21st and the second found not far from there the next day; an incident known as "la caravana de la muerte", the caravan of death).

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.

In popular culture

• Main protagonist of Alejandro Amenabar's Open Your Eyes (film) (portrayed by Eduardo Noriega commit suicide by jumping from the high of that building

Gallery

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  The entrance arch

External links

• Official website of Torre Picasso
• Torre Picasso at Google Maps
• Torre Picasso, description and pictures Template:Es icon

40°27′01″N 3°41′33″W