Montjuic Communications Tower, Barcelona Spain ~ netra

Calatrava's beautiful and original communications tower was built for Telefónica in the heart of the 1992 Olympic site, to carry coverage of the Games. Aside from its distinctive structural form, the tower is innovative in enclosing the circular platform of microwave dishes, replacing the normal clutter with a serene white arc. As a result the 130 meter structure becomes a welcome feature in the Olympic park.

Imagery abounds. The overall form of the tower is based on a Calatrava sketch of a kneeling figure making an offering. The base on which the figure 'kneels' is covered in broken glazed tiles in recognition of Gaudi (though with more restrained colors). The orientation of the tower means that the shadow of the central needle on the circular platform acts as a (rather impractical) sundial.

The twirly tower meets the ground very delicately at

a pin-point, seeming to float in the air like a twisted paper clip. The base is covered with broken shards with Gaudí's technique of mosaic. Majestic fountains stand before the stair procession to the tower.

Construction Details:

Architects: Santiago Calatrava / Study Architecture: Santiago Calatrava Tower Construction: - Use: Torre Telefonica telecommunications company.

Technical Data:

Overall height: 136 m. built: 1992 Mounting: It was built as symbolic piece with the rest of the Olympic ring, in Montjuïc. Beside the Collserola communications tower of Norman Foster, make the communications system of the city of Barcelona and its metropolitan area.

Tower Design:

Barcelone experienced an explosion of architecture and urban renewal on the occasion of the Olympic Games in 1992, and one such example is the telecommunications tower built Santiago Calatrava, Olympic ring in full for the event. This tower was commissioned by the national telecommunications company by then, Telefonica SA of Spain to give everyone coverage of the Olympic Games in Barcelona. Montjuïc tower - original-name popularly known as Torre Calatrava, presents an innovative and striking design with traditional telecommunication towers. Telefónica broke its traditional model, often a smaller replica of the famous Lollipop height of the capital Madrid to participate in the need that Spain had in 1992, to show everyone a modern and innovative country. Madrid (European cultural capital), Sevilla (Expo 92) and Barcelona (92 Olympics) were the perfect showcase to present to the world a country that had been able to leave a dictatorship into a democracy and capacity to modernize in a short period of time. A country able to meet the challenges of the future, able to organize two major international events at the same time and be attractive to tourists and investors. Regarding originality, apart from its distinctive structural form, the tower is innovative in including the circular platform dishes of data transmission (transmitters), replacing the traditional body of antennas by an arc with a striking layout. This set of elements make the structure of 130 meters to become more than a tower .. a nice sculpture in the Olympic ring. The shape of the tower is based on a Calatrava sketch of a figure of an athlete of ancient Greece, to kneel on when you pick up the medal, as the winner of an Olympic event. The base of the tower is covered in broken glazed tiles in recognition of Gaudi and his famous technique of "Trencadís". The orientation of the tower gets to become a giant sundial, marking the hours on the square in Europe.

Details of Structure:

It was not the only telecom tower in town for the 1992 Collserola Tower British Norman Foster was also raised in the other mountain city, Tibidabo. This second tower has a larger television, and radio coverage of telecommunications signals to the entire city of Barcelona and its metropolitan region function consists of more than 4.5 million inhabitants. coverage of 92 Olympics: Images of the Barcelona Olympics that saw much of the world's inhabitants were made possible by the intense audiovisual coverage of the event, which provided Telefónica modern means of transmission. ISDN was the basic telecommunications infrastructure used in 1992. The investment made by the company, only to meet the needs of the Games, was 92,000 million pesetas in four years. During the Games originated in Barcelona two million phone calls. At the end of the competition, Barcelona had built a telecommunications infrastructure up to the most advanced in Europe.