Confirming the role of the 22@ area at the forefront of Barcelona’s changing water edge, the tower’s striking design creates a new presence in a territory of transition. Stitching the border of the municipalities of Barcelona and Besòs, it creates a new infrastructure that is a joint venture between two cities and two clients.
The design articulates the transition between the forum and the campus, between the new equipment, the park’s waterfront area in Barcelona and the requalification of the delta of the River Besòs area, in Sant Adriá 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 and dynamically connecting the different surrounding areas.
The new node created at the Edifici Campus anchors itself on the functional mix of university and office spaces, establishing a bridge between the worlds of education, research and business and promoting new opportunities for interaction between diverse users through its new public spaces, courtyard and atrium.
Our design takes on the challenge of combining the needs and aspirations of the two clients – El Consorci, Zona Franca de Barcelona y b – TEC and Consorci del Campus Interuniversitari del Besòs – and creating a symbiosis between their programmes. Thinking of the two briefs as one single building is the most coherent, efficient, sustainable and cost effective way to fulfil the potential of this great opportunity.
The new building form, defined 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 for the transition between the forum and the campus, creating potential new synergies between different stake- holders and contributing actively to the overall redevelopment of the 22@ area.
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.
Zaha Hadid Architects
Zaha Hadid with Patrik Schumacher
Tiago Correia
Alejandro Díaz Fernández, Aurora Santana
Fabiano Continanza, Mónica Bartolomé, Víctor Orive, Raquel Gallego, Oihane Santiuste, Rafael González, Esther Rivas, Jessica Knobloch, Hooman Talebi, Maria Araya, Ebru Simsek
Ferran Pelegrina, Associats (Barcelona, Spain)
J/T Ardèvol i Associats (Barcelona, Spain)
BAC Engineering Consultancy Group (Barcelona, Spain)
Adams Kara Taylor (London, UK)
JG Ingenieros (Barcelona, Spain) and Max Fordham (London, UK)
Ferrés Arquitectos y Consultores (Barcelona, Spain)
Architectural Lighting Solutions (Pamplona, Spain)
J/T Ardèvol i Associats [Barcelona, Spain]
J/T Ardèvol i Associats [Barcelona, Spain]
