The Agbar Tower

Introduction

The work responds to the request made by the water company of Barcelona (AGBAR), who sought a structure that is adapted to these new times and complies with the demands of its current growth. For this task was chosen French architect Jean Nouvel, after analyzing the proposal, very warmly accepted this challenge.

Lighting

The Tower illuminated in blue and red

A very interesting characteristic of the building is its night lighting.

It has more than 4,000 luminous devices that use LED technology, which allow the generation of bright images on its facade.

It also has temperature sensors on the outside of the tower that regulate the opening and closing of shutters on the glass facade of the building, reducing energy consumption required for air conditioning.

The project "Control of Ornamental Lighting de la Torre Agbar" is the work of Project Director Manuel J. Rodriguez Suarez of MIRELEC, SL. The system concept and exclusive and proprietary and allows the owner to illuminate independently each of the 4500 luminaries that make up the tower. It can project 16 million colors, thanks to a sophisticated system of hardware and software, plus the ability to create independent color transitions, delays and a striking effect. It is designed as an open system that integrates the lighting of any manufacturer.

Situation

The Agbar Tower is located in the city of Barcelona, Spain.

Its responsible for marking the new beginning (or should we say the new "no end") of the diagonal avenue that extends down to the sea on the occasion of the 2004 forum.

The plaza is located so as to be one of the glories on the main road from the city and is responsible for redistributing the traffic to and from the east side of town. The 3 most important streets of the city are the Gran Via, the Meridian and the aforementioned Avenida Diagonal.

Concept

The building is shaped like the union of two opposites: lightness of the glass that covers the building in 120 x 30 cm panes forming a large brise-soleil and the massive structure of the concrete. The concrete is covered with aluminum plates that give color to the project, with a surface area of 16,000 sq m. The panes of glass have different inclinations and opacities that play with the light, depending on time of day and season, and with the lacquered aluminum sheets that cover the concrete. The cylindrical, ovoidal or "bullet" shape is formed by two nonconcentric cylinders creating an oval floorplan, until the outer ring of the 26th floor. Part of this floor opens into a steel and glass dome. The inner cylinder houses the elevators, escalators and installations, the exterior presents openings, windows (4,400 in total), forming a large fractal.

Structure

Beams and radial drilling in the cylinder perimeter

The tower is composed of two modules of dense concrete, a central and a perimeter. These two cylinders, the central egg-shaped and elliptical perimeter, are not concentric. The interior concrete cylinder has a thickness of 45 cm at the base and 25 cm in the upper zone. The outer cylinder, introduced a base thicknesses of 50 cm and 30 cm in the upper zone. The concrete wall for the outer perimeter is perforated for 4400 openings for different types of windows. These two modules are connected to each other by pierced steel radial beams to increase the flexibility of services.

The lower floors are made of light platforms while the upper floors have floors made of prestressed reinforced concrete and are cantilevered over the central stem.

For the construction of internal partitions a patented system was used: molded panels were created with prefabricated steel cages and then filled with concrete.

Materials

The Agbar Tower is composed of two bodies of dense concrete, a central and the other perimeter. Both are linked by radio beams holding the various floors that shape each level of the tower.

The module of concrete perimeter is covered with tinted aluminum modules that give the tower its characteristic tone during the day. The module perimeter along with the aluminum panels are in turn coated glass for a few lamas mobile 120x30cm that can be electronically oriented as the atmospheric conditions of light, wind, etc..