Hi-Tech creation of Jean Nouvel - Torre Agbar. Barcelona Vodokanal office building: a fantasy realized Spiral tower Barcelona Spain

Agbar Tower (Torre Agbar) is a skyscraper that is a modern masterpiece of architecture and design. The Agbar Tower was built by the Dragados company from 1999 to 2005 according to a joint project by the French architect Jean Nouvel and the b720 Arquitectos company. This building is located in Barcelona, ​​near the Plaza de les Glores Catalanes at 211 Diogonal Avenue. The name of the Tower was given in honor of the holding company Agbar Group. The grand opening took place on September 16, 2005 by Spanish Monarch Juan Carlos I.

Agbar Tower - impressive height and volumes

Agbar Tower is a skyscraper consisting of 39 floors, of which four floors are underground. The height of the structure is almost 145 meters, it is the third largest architectural structure in Barcelona. The championship in height belongs to the skyscraper, the Arts Hotel and the Mapfe Tower. Effective area Agbar Tower is 50,500 sq.m., of which 30,000 sq.m. is allocated for offices, 3,210 sq.m. area belongs to technical floors with equipment and 8,351 sq.m. used for office space, including a large concert hall.

Agbar Tower and its non-standard design

The Agbar Tower, in its shape, is very reminiscent of the London skyscraper 30 St. Mary Ax, created by architect Norman Forester. The shape of the structure resembles a “Cucumber”, in connection with this local residents, sometimes they treat the building with irony, inventing all sorts of nicknames for it.

The outside of the structure is covered with translucent and transparent panels, thanks to which, under the influence of sunlight, Agbar surprises passers-by with a shimmer of many shades and colors. In the evening and at night, the façade of the building is illuminated by 4,500 LED devices. The building never ceases to amaze viewers with its light illumination even at night, at which time the facade is illuminated by about 4,500 LED devices, creating the effect of approximately 16 million colors. Such a lighting system cannot but fascinate passersby.

The Agbar Tower is a design of the future, on which temperature sensors are installed that regulate the closing and opening of the blinds, this contributes to good ventilation of the building and energy saving.

Agbar Tower was designed in the style of abstract-symbolic expressionism. If you look at the Tower from a distance, all the numerous details of the structure merge together, as a result of this effect, including light, it seems that the entire structure is made of mercury.

Agbar, since 2005, head office of the water supply company Águas de Barcelona. Officially, since 2014, Agbar Tower has been ranked 13th among the most tall buildings Spain.

On one of the most important streets of Barcelona, ​​as if cutting this city from west to east, the wide and beautiful Diagonal Avenue, stands this strange, unlike anything else building - Torre Agbar. However, in fact, this rather militant name is deciphered quite peacefully - it comes from an abbreviation of the words “Aguas de Barcelona” (after all, the building was built for the needs of this company, which controls the water supply in the city).

Why can the Agbar Tower, whose history begins quite recently, be confidently called one of the most popular attractions in Barcelona? Perhaps, first of all, because upon completion of construction in 2005, it was inaugurated by none other than the King of Spain. However, this is not all that can attract attention to it.

Despite the rather large number of floors, the building is strikingly different from other “high-rises” - and this is not only because of its shape, which from a distance resembles a cigar rounded upward or even a space rocket. By the way, the author himself, Jean Nouvel, assures that the “muse” for his building was the peaks of Mount Montserrat and the water elements (in particular, the geyser gushing out of the ground). In addition to the form, there is a lot of original and interesting things here.

For example, Torre Agbar has a special double facade: its first layer is a concrete shell, which is lined with bright metal sheets, the second is a special system of translucent blinds, thanks to which it is possible to do without the usual air conditioners and air ducts. In addition, it is thanks to the peculiar “scales” of the blinds that the tower has a mystical appearance.

By the way, in the first layer of the shell there are also 4400 windows, which are placed here randomly, absolutely without any system or any architectural canons.

The metal panels contain about four thousand LED lighting devices, thanks to which the building constantly changes color at night, shimmering with all the colors of the rainbow. On holidays, thanks to this system, colored images and images appear on the walls of the tower.

Once inside, you can only see the building's lobby; all other rooms are occupied by offices, most of which belong to the customer company.

How to get there

Metro – L1, get off at “Glories” station.

Do you know what?

• Lighting devices located in metal panels are capable of creating a fairly large palette of colors - up to sixteen million shades.
• Among the objects that the famous French climber and builder, Alain Robert, also known as “Spider-Man”, conquered, is the conquest of this skyscraper

Of course, Agbar Tower cannot be called a historical building. But this unusual building is a decoration of the city and a good landmark during a walk. The skyscraper is decorated with special panels that shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. It is especially beautiful in the evening lighting.

The Agbar Tower (Spanish: Torre Glòries; cat. Torre Agbar) rises above the Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes and business districts. The Catalans call it the “Barcelona cucumber”. The appearance of a huge tower in the shape of a giant cigar is completely mystical. The monumental building sparkles with a leaden-rainbow sheen under the rays of the sun and shimmers with a multi-colored glow against the background of the night sky of Barcelona.

The idea of ​​creating a skyscraper

Torre Agbar (photo: Kenny (zoompict) Teo)

The authors of this innovative project were Jean Nouvel, an architect from France, and the Spanish company b720 Arquitectos. The customer was the Agbar Group holding company (Grupo Agbar) (hence the name of the building). The shape of the skyscraper was inspired by the main symbols of Catalan culture - bell towers and the bizarre contours of Mount Montserrat. Nouvel didn't want his building to look like skyscrapers North America. And since the client was a water company, the idea was that the building should emerge from the ground like a geyser escaping from the depths of the sea.

Construction

Torre Agbar (photo: John Zacherle)

Large-scale construction was carried out by the Dragados company. The building was built for quite prosaic purposes - it housed public utilities: the water supply and sewerage company Aguas de Barcelona. The 34-story skyscraper (plus 4 underground floors) was built by September 2005 and inaugurated in the presence of Juan Carlos I.

Torre Agbar (photo: Machine Made)

The Agbar Tower soared 144.4 meters above the city. Today it ranks 14th on the list of the tallest buildings in the country. The 4,400 windows on the cylindrical facade of the skyscraper resemble a fairy-tale mosaic - the arrangement of window blocks on each floor was developed according to an individual plan. The outer “shell” of the facade is lined with translucent panels that are driven by photo sensors. The facade is double: a well-thought-out system of windows, blinds and air conditioners allows you to automatically control the temperature in the building.

High-speed elevators run inside the skyscraper. Office employees work on 30 thousand m² of space; the rest of the space is occupied by technical services, public spaces, and underground parking. The total area of ​​the interior of Tore Agbar is more than 50,000 m². At night, the building is illuminated by 4,000 LED lamps, generating combinations of up to 16 million shades.

Torre Agbar (photo: Javier Terol)

In 2013, it was announced that the skyscraper had been acquired by the American hotel chain Hyatt, which decided to turn it into a luxury hotel. Since 2017, the building has been owned by Merlin Properties, a Spanish real estate investment company.

When does the backlight work?

• from 19:00 to 23:00,
• March 28 – October 31 from 21:00 to 00:00

How to get there?

Take metro L1 to Glòries station.

Take bus 7, N7 to the stop Av Diagonal - Ciutat de Granada. Take tram T5, T6 to the La Farinera stop or T4 to the La Farinera stop.

How do I save on hotels?

It’s very simple - look not only on booking. I prefer the search engine RoomGuru. He searches for discounts on Booking and 70 other booking sites simultaneously.

The architecture of Barcelona is multifaceted; next to ancient Gothic buildings, there are also modern masterpieces in the Hi-Tech style. One such masterpiece is the 34-story Torre Agbar skyscraper, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel.

Torre Agbar, translated as Agbar Tower, is a modern skyscraper located in Plaza Glorias Catalanes, Barcelona. The building is named after its owner, who is the Agbar Group holding company. The building was erected by the Dragados company according to a joint project by the French architect Jean Nouvel and the Spanish company b720 Arquitectos. It was built in June 2005 and inaugurated by the King of Spain on September 16, 2005. The shape of the building is inspired by the idea of ​​the water element and the bizarre outlines of rocks mountain range Montserrat, located near the city, and the bell towers of the Sagrada Familia.

Torre Agbar is a 38-story building with a height of 145 meters (the third highest in the city). The total floor area of ​​the tower is 50,693 square meters, of which 30,000 are for offices, 3,210 for technical premises, 8,132 for general services and 9,132 for parking. The building is clad in multi-colored metal panels containing about 4,000 lighting devices using LED technology. They form complex color combinations (up to 16 million colors), creating the effect of a kind of “pixelated” color - from a distance the pixels merge, and the tower seems to shimmer with all the colors of the rainbow. On the outside, the entire building is covered in rectangular glass panels that can move based on signals from temperature sensors on the outside of the tower.


Besides, Torre Agbar equipped with indoor light sensors that open and close blinds as needed, resulting in significant energy savings

Agbar Tower is a building with a special double facade. The façade of the tower consists of two layers. The first layer is a dense concrete shell, lined with brightly painted metal sheets and randomly scattered squares of windows. The second layer is a system of translucent glass blinds placed at arm's length. These types of double-facade systems are often used in construction today, as they allow natural ventilation of interior spaces, thus saving space that would be occupied by unnecessary air ducts and air conditioners. In winter, the façade layer serves as an air buffer, delaying the release of heat to the outside. In summer, on the contrary, the cold air accumulated during the night rushes indoors. In addition, a peculiar veil of corrugated glass blinds gives Nouvel’s building the owner of mystical outlines, which are emphasized by lighting at night.

The location of the 4,400 windows of the Agbar skyscraper was determined by a computer program - a random number generator. This has become a major challenge to maintain the statics of the building envelope, which is dependent on each opening. As a result, this increased the cost of both design and construction, since an individual plan had to be developed for each floor. The completion of the Agbar Tower is a glass dome. The central part of the high-rise building we are considering is stairs, elevators and technical structures, and office areas are located around it.


What is unique about the Torre Agbar skyscraper is its energy efficiency. Designers took advantage climatic conditions, in order to keep energy consumption as low as possible and increase comfort. The building is installed so that solar energy, thanks to 4,500 windows, contributes to heating. At the same time, the windows serve for natural ventilation. An air chamber is formed between the outer wall and the glass shell, which performs the function of natural air conditioning. Part of glass plates on south side equipped with photovoltaic surfaces to generate electricity.
The most energy-efficient technologies were also used for the technical equipment of the tower. To air condition and heat the building, a VRV system with 27 different climatic zones on every floor. A centralized system regulates and optimizes the need for air conditioning or heating depending on the outside temperature and office occupancy.

Tower Torre Agbar was awarded the prize for building construction in 2006. Architects Jean Nouvel thus decided to pay tribute to the most famous Spanish architect, Catalan Antoni Gaudi. The cost of the project was more than 130 million euros. You can read about other popular attractions in Spain in a special selection.

Barcelona is not only gothic cathedrals and the masterpieces of Antoni Gaudi, beautiful parks, monuments and memorials. Here you can also find new architectural masterpieces built in the 21st century. One of them is Agbar Tower.

Torre Agbar is not hundreds of years old, it was built in 2005. But this does not make this attraction cease to be very interesting for tourists and guests of Barcelona.

Agbar Tower in all its glory

Agbar Tower

Features of the building's architecture

The Agbar tower owes its unique shape to the imagination of the famous Spanish urban planner, the Frenchman Jean Nouvel, who designed it together with the b720 Arquitectos company. Work on the tower was carried out with the participation of builders from the Dragados company. The construction of the skyscraper took 6 long years and was distinguished by large-scale construction. September 16, 2005 – the opening of a new skyscraper took place. Moreover, the King of Spain himself, Juan Carlos, took part in this event.
Despite the fact that outwardly, the structure is a bit reminiscent of the famous skyscrapers of Abu Dhabi, in fact, it owes its shape to two images: the majestic waterfalls and cliffs of Montserrat, as well as the outlines of the bell towers of the cathedral. The author of the project was passionate about the architect Antonio Gaudi and really wanted his building to be different from many standard “living boxes”. The height of Torre Agbar was 142 meters, in addition, four of the 38 floors are underground. However, it does not appear everywhere on the horizon. For example, we saw it for the first time on As a result, it turned out to be a kind of “geyser that came out of the ground.” The facade of this building reminds me of a game of Tetris. 🙂

Besides strange shape buildings, the interior of the skyscraper is also very unusual. All the windows inside the building are not located strictly according to plan, but are made chaotically. It turns out that this was not done by a human hand, but by a special computer program that, based on a free selection of windows, created a similar solution. There are special panels on all sides of the building. To prevent residents and visitors of the skyscraper from feeling too hot, sensors control the opening of thousands of glass blinds, as well as their closing automatically. This ensures maximum reflection solar energy In addition, the presence of space between the blinds and the concrete facade ensures normal circulation of fresh air, without the need for air conditioners and other means of ventilation.

Futuristic facade of Agbar Tower

Evening illumination of the Agbar Tower

Tourists should definitely look at the Agbar Tower in the evening and at night. Outside, on the surface of the skyscraper there are about 5,000 different lighting elements. They are capable of displaying up to 16 million colors. Every minute, it seems that the skyscraper is shimmering with more and more new colors. Also, color images and various images appear on the walls.

Light show at Agbar Tower in the evening

How to get to Agbar Tower

The 34-storey building itself is located slightly north of the Ciutadella Park, in Plaza Glorias Catalanes in block 22@. The tower is easily accessible by metro. The station you need is Glòries. By the way, about the metro... I recommend that you read my article about transport in Barcelona if you don’t already know how you can save up to 100-150% of the cost of your trip using T-10 travel cards.

You can also walk to Torre Agbar from the city center. At the same time, you can look at the article about which I published a few days ago. The duration of the walk will be no more than 1 hour one way.