In the heart of the business quarter of Madrid, directly opposite the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, home of Real Madrid Football Club, stands the Torre Europa. The 121 metre high building is one of the tallest in the Spanish capital. For more than 30 years, the Torre Europa has provided space for a large number of offices of various top companies, until recently including the auditing and consultancy company KMPG.
Extensive renovation work has made the Torre Europa, built in 1985, into one of the smartest office complexes in the world. From now on, smartphones and sensors will control important functions within the building such as the lighting and ventilation, which will enable its users to adapt and personalize their workspace directly.
The modernized entrance area of the Torre Europa accentuates the architecture of the office tower. Photo: Bellapart
In order to give visible expression to the innovative character of the building, the Torre Europa has also been modernized on an aesthetic level. The key element here is the new entrance area that sedak has created in cooperation with Bellapart. For the façade and the L-shaped roof of the around 10m x 10m x 12m cube-shaped entrance sedak manufactured a total of 55 two to four-layer laminates.
The glass panes that form the façade on two sides are 10 metres high, 3 metres wide and are supported by glass fins, which are connected to the façade panes using titanium fittings. The L-shaped roof of the glass cube is constructed from panes up to 12 metres long. For maximum transparency the roof is supported by extra-narrow glass beams, which with a length of up to 11.71 metres narrow to a width of only 0.15 metres, thereby achieving a spectacular width‑to‑length ratio of 1:84. Eight insulation glass panes that are also part of the roof have stripes printed onto them digitally and are equipped with a heat and solar control coating.
The glass cube functions as a prestigious entrance to the office tower “Torre Europa”. Photo: Bellapart
The cube-shaped glass and steel construction is intended to optically break up the façade of the building and with its transparency it provides the Torre Europa with more light and additional openness.
Credits
Architect: Callison RTKL
Scope: 55 2- to 4-layer glass panes for the façade and roof
Completion: 03/2018
Image rights: Bellapart
Supporting glass beams
Maximum length of 11.71m
Minimum width of 0.35m, tapering to 0.15m
Maximum width-to-length ratio therefore 1:84
Roof
Glass elements with a maximum length of 12m
Eight insulation glass units with a digital stripe print and a heat and solar control coating
Sloping construction of the roof for water run-off
Glass façade
Glass elements with a maximum height of 9.7m with laminated-in titanium fittings (provided by Bellapart)
Supporting glass fins with dimensions of up to 9.7m x 0.6m
News courtesy of Sedak