The project was built along the edge of "Barrio de la Barceloneta" district. For a long time, this neighbourhood was a fishing area. Thanks to the 1992 Olympic Games, the district was greatly improved by the creation of a new sea front.
The land belonging to the Spanish Gas company for more than 160 years, was occupied by the first gasworks in Spain. The property developer for the main part of the project, consisting of a 20 storey office block, is the Torre Marenostrum S.L Company. The second part of the site is occupied by the Natural Gas Company´s technical services offices.
The whole of the block´s boundaries are marked out by the Doctor Aiguader, Balboa, Avenida Cermeno roads as well as the Paseo de Salvat Papasseit that runs along the edge of the Parc de la Barceloneta.
In 1998 the Gas Natural group decided to organise a competition to construct its head quarters on the site. The competition´s main objectives were to build a modern, functional and flexible office block that could be adapted to the firm´s and the other occupants´ necessities, the wish to create a representative volume and a symbolic element for the city as well as the necessity of producing top quality public areas capable of integrating the new volume to the whole of the urban network. The project was won by the architects Enric Miralles and Benedetta Tagliabue´s EMBT agency.
The building became subtly integrated into the urban fabric. Three main volumes of various scales are joined together to form an asymmetric whole. First, a volume of 4 storeys in the shape of a cascade are in line with the district´s network, then, a large, horizontally slanting volume giving panoramic views over the Barceloneta district. This part, also called the "aircraft carrier", is made up of five floors, 80m long and 15m wide at the largest point.
Finally, a new 20-storey, office block with 22 000m² floor space is the project´s focal point from the town. The Tower has a total height of 86m made up of a 6.8m high ground floor, twenty 3.66m floors and one partial technical floor of 6m under the roof. The last two buildings are linked from the eighth to the twelfth floors to form one sole volume. On the other hand, each building has independent functions on the ground floor, in other words entrance hall, lift unit, service premises and technical installations.
On ground level, a public park has been made towards the district. A pedestrian pathway directly connects the Barceloneta garden area to the modern style focal point of "la Torre de las Aguas".
The technical design of the work recalls the mixed steel/concrete construction. Putting the classical concrete units for the lifts on one side, the rest of the construction was carried out in composite structures. HEB frames support the IPE metal girders connected to the slab. The mix combining the slab and girder makes them collaborate in their domain of predilection (steel in traction and concrete in compression) and thus tripling their initial strength. These floors are, moreover, used more and more in Europe in buildings where they give real building site flexibility, an economy of materials and simplified implementation. The lightness of the floor system has made the making of the slant easier, which is a true technical feat.
The façade is one of the most important elements of new architecture. The modular envelope standardizes the building as a unique object in spite of the differentiated volumetries. For this purpose the vertical laying out was accentuated. The façade system is made up of a classical curtain wall with different glass panes placed in a random pattern. The panes were chosen in a range with reflective properties to remove the sight of open floors and to reflect the distortion of the environment. Like all of the edifice´s constructive elements, the façade respects the 60cm (1.20m, 1.80m, and 2.40m) module.
Text : Constructalia
Web Page: www.mirallestagliabue.com
24 PLANS + URBAIN
MODEL I
MODELS II AND III
HE beams
