First stone of the Spiral Tower by Zaha Hadid in Barcelona

Today at 11.00 AM took place the laying of the foundation stone of what will
be the new iconic building in the area of Barcelona’s Forum, the Spiral Tower.
This university campus will be located at the end of Avinguda Diagonal, one of
the main avenues of Barcelona, beside the Forum building designed by Herzog
& de Meuron for the Forum of Cultures held in 2004.

Zaha Hadid came around 11:15 and the event had an intense political presence
(the Mayor of Barcelona Jordi Hereu, mayors from areas like Maresme and Besós
and key representatives of the Consorci). The building, located at the
confluence of streets Taulat and Sant Ramon de Penyafort, will have a ground
surface of 20,650 sqm.

Hadid’s speech was short, she recalled his first trip to Catalonia when she was 7
years and then she talked about a competition in which she participated 20 years
ago, related to the design and extension of the Diagonal Avenue. At that moment
she had the opportunity for a better understanding about the urban development
of Barcelona and [as she said there] it has been a big influence on the design
of the Spiral Tower.

Design and Context

Zaha Hadid’s design for the Edifci Campus confrms the role of the 22@ area at
the very forefront of Barcelona’s changing water edge. The tower’s striking
design creates a new presence in a territory of transition. The spiralling tower
stitches the border of the municipalities of Barcelona and Besòs, creating a new
infrastructure that is a joint venture of the two cities and two clients: El
Consorci, Zona Franca de Barcelona y b-TEC, Consorci del Campus
Interuniversitari del Besòs.

The design articulates the transition between the forum and the campus,
between the new equipments and parks water-front area, in Barcelona, and the
requalifcation of the delta of the river Besòs area, in Sant Adrià del Besòs.
The formal theme of the spiral actively binds the two together with an
encompassing movement, stimulating the seamless integration of the city fabric,
connecting in a dynamic way, the different surrounding areas.

situation plan

Synergies and Opportunities

The new node created at the Edifci Campus anchors itself on the functional
mix of university and office spaces, establishing a bridge between the world’s
of education, research and business, promoting new opportunities of interaction
between the diverse types of users through its new public spaces, the courtyard
and the atrium. Our design proposal takes on the challenge of combining the
needs and aspirations of the two clients and creating a symbiosis between their
programmes. Thinking of the two briefs as one single building is the most
coherent, effcient, sustainable and cost effective way to fulfl the potential of
this great opportunity. This new building form, defned as a combined entity
created by fusion, will set a new typology of intervention within the Knowledge
City concept. The critical mass generated at the site will act as a catalyst on
the transition between the forum and the campus, creating potential new
synergies between the different stake holders and contributing actively to the
overall redevelopment of the 22@ area.

Connectivity and Public Space

The fluid character of the tower is generated through an intrinsically
dynamic composition of volumes that dissolves the classic typology of the tower
and the podium into a seamless piece. The building uses the site’s inclined
topography to redesign the landscape in order to create seamless accessibility
between the new campus and the forum. Through the use of cantilevers, the
building lifts from the street level, releasing the ground to be occupied by
civic / public uses. The continuous, ‘choreographed’, spiral movement ‘weaves’ a
series of public spaces, connecting the campus, through the courtyards and under
the cantilevers, to the forum beyond.

Credits

Architect: Zaha Hadid
Architects and Patrik Schumacher
Location: Barcelona,
Spain
Project Director: Tiago Correia
Project
Architects: Alejandro Diaz & Aurora Santana
Project
team: Fabiano Continanza, Víctor Orive, Rafael González, Oihane
Santiuste, Mónica Bartolomé, Raquel Gallego, Esther Rivas, Jessica Knobloch,
Hooman Talebi, Maria Araya, Ebru Simsek
Local Architect:
Ferran Pelegrina Associats SL [Barcelona, E]
Technical
Architect: J/T Ardèvol i Associats SL [Barcelona,
E]
Structural Engineering: BOMA Brufau, Obiol, Moya &
Ass. SL [Barcelona, E]
Structural Engineering: Adams Kara
Taylor [London, GB] (Concept Stage)
M/E/P Engineering: Grupo
JG. SL [Barcelona, E]
M/E/P Engineering: Max Fordham LLP
[London, GB] (Concept Stage)
Facade Engineering: Ferrés
Arquitectos y Consultores.SL [Barcelona, E]
Lighting Design:
Architectural Lighting Solutions [Pamplona, E]
Health &
Safety: J/T Ardèvol i Associats SL [Barcelona, E]
QS /
Cost: J/T Ardèvol i Associats SL [Barcelona, E]
Geotecnia:
Losan [Barcelona, E]
Project Area: 27,650
sqm
Project Year: 2006-2011

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