2011 Emirates Glass LEAF Awards

The position of Diagonal ZeroZero Tower is exceptional as it is located at the origin of Diagonal, Barcelona's main avenue, being very visible from the city and from the coast, and found on the border between the consolidated city and the large expanses of public space in the Forum area. Moreover, its immediate environment consists of isolated buildings in a context of different scales and uses that generate at the same time a metropolitan center and a local neighborhood still in formation.

It is a contextual tower that is based on these circumstances and has a double reading, from afar and enar, in response to the two scales that such tall buildings must address. Taking the urban directions that form the perimeter of the plot as generators of its form, it is a trapezoidal prism, sharp and stylized, a clean and serene form, light and whitish, which through its transparency reveals dynamic volumes that respond to the different specificities of the interior program and relate to the various heights of nearby buildings. The exterior responds to the city and the view from afar, and the interior responds to the program and the close-up vision.

The program that the tower hosts has a major public part that will relate it to urban flows and that the project takes as a chance to make the building permeable. This program open to the public is situated on the ground floor, which actually comprises three interrelated levels, around an atrium 30 meter high that follows the slope of the adjacent Plaça Forum. This direct visual and physical continuity with the city will help the tower benefit from civic activities and will facilitate citizens to participate and enjoy from the activity of the building.

Inside the building four singular points are created in order to make the ensemble dynamic and generate a variety of interior experiences despite being a relatively conventional program of corporate headquarters: the main lobby atrium, facing Diagonal; an atrium on the 17th level that goes all the way up to the top of the building, facing the Maresme coast; the terrace and the double height the Council Chamber, located on the 23rd floor; and the auditorium, which occupies two floors and is split into an orchestra and two amphitheaters that can operate autonomously for smaller groups.

The upper floors, devoted to offices, are open-plan, taking advantage of the structural system, a classic tube-in-tube scheme, with a bearing central core and a perimeter structure along the façade. The perimeter structure is split into two parts: very small and slender vertical interior pillars that work in compression, and external elements that bear horizontal forces and torque. These create a diamond lattice facade that follows the stresses of each part of the building, with the greatest concentration of bearing elements in the lower half and less so in the upper parts. The floors are solid concrete slabs that transmit these horizontal forces to the central core.

The facade consists of a modular curtain wall made of aluminum profiles and extra-transparent glass partially painted with ceramic paint, according to a vertical pattern that reinforces the slenderness of the building. In combination with the inner structure, placed every 1.35 meters, and the exterior structure, this pattern contributes to the diffusion of solar light and to glare control, generating interiors of great quality of perception.

TEAM ARCHITECTURE

PRINCIPAL
Enric Massip-Bosch

PROJECT DIRECTORS
Aleix Antillach, Elena Guim, Jon Ajánguiz

ARCHITECTS
Esteve Solà, Ricardo Mauricio, Carlos Cachón, Cornelia Memm, Cristina Feijoo, Heidi Reichenbacher, Rita Pacheco, Rodrigo Vargas, Jana Alonso, Marta Marcet, Mariana Arámburu

ARCH. PRESCRIPTION
Montse Galindo

ARCH. DOCUMENT CONTROL
Glòria Andrés

ARCH. STUDENTS
Laura Rodera, Megan Charnley, Miguel Orellana, Jabi Fernández

RENDERING
EMBA, Rupert Maurus

MODELS
Eloi Hortoneda-EMBA, Andrea Sanglas