Barcelona experiments with new architecture

Barcelona has approved the radical design for a 48 metre tall building. The building, blue and white in colour, is a guaranteed head turner.

Spiralling Tower is destined to become an international landmark when built. The design, which is similar to numerous books being piled loosely on top of eachother, was designed by Zaha Hadid. It will become a university tower containing an auditorium and office space for businesses who are connected to the university.

Each floor, rhomboid in shape, is positioned to create open spaces into atriums, terraces and projecting balconies.

The building with some 27,000m² of roof cover will have 11 floors above ground level and an overall height of 48 meters. Two underground floors covering 7000m² will be used as a parking lot, and it is also planned to build a 2000m² auditorium and a 1000m² shopping centre.

The architect has taken full advantage of the inclined topography to create public spaces under the building destined towards community use. The tower will be constructed with steel and concrete and have a curtain like external layer of double glazed glass and aluminium panels to take full advantage of the natural light and allow views of the sea.

The floor space will be clear and bright and can be divided in any way the users wish according to the proposal presented by Zaha Hadid, world renowned architect and winner of the 2004 Pritzker Architecture Prize. The new building will accommodate the headquarters of the Besòs university campus and offices for companies involved in scientific and technological development, creative and communication activities, studies, workshops and professional and engineering offices. The university facilities will be situated on the lower floors and the company offices on the higher floors.

The Zona Franca Consortium of Barcelona and the Besòs Interuniversitary Consortium are the ones behind the project which involves an investment of 28 million euros.The building joins the Forum 2004 area, Besòs Interuniversitary Campus and the @22 area with the site of the proposed building of approximately 6,700 m² found close to the juncture point of these three great new urban areas of the city. The exact location is situated between the streets of Taulat, Sant Raimon de Penyafort and d'Eduard Maristany.The Zona Franca Consortium of Barcelona, public agent for economic development, will contribute towards making the Besòs Interuniversitary Campus a reality, with the aim of creating a productive economy, fostering the technology transference between the university and companies and to give support to new emerging urban areas.

This new building forms part of the b_TEC project, which is managed by the Besòs Interuniversitary Consortium, who are promoting the transformation of this urban space into an area where knowledge and innovation are created and transmitted. The project wants to make this urban area an international reference point in the new knowledge society.