Building

The SyV Tower is 236m. tall and, thus, it is the third highest skyscraper in Spain and it is among the 200 highest buildings in the world. The building was made by the prestigious architecture studio of Carlos Rubio Carvajal and Enrique Álvarez-Sala, and it is the only of the four highest skyscrapers in Spain designed by Spanish architects.

The project, a tower with mixed use between hotel an offices, is the result of a competition organized by the City Hall of Madrid. It is part of a set of four towers that alter the city’s skyline, the clarity of its volume has been considered important among the distant vision of the grouping.

The building is fragmented by three fissures into three pieces, which increase the volume’s sense of verticality. These fissures introduce light into the building’s interior creating the illusion of grouping single vertical pieces.

The shape of the floor plan emerges from the study of both, the minimum surface resistance against the wind, and the optimal relationship between of usable area and façade length. The building is 58 stories (774,28 feet) high and has a surface of 1.184.030,15 square feet above ground level.

A double wall gives image unity and protects the interior of an excessive solar exposure. The skin of the building responds to the dual need to resolve technical and image issues through the use of a double wall.

Carlos Rubio Carvajal and Enrique Álvarez-Sala have been working together since 1980. Apart from the SyV Tower, they have also designed works such as the main headquarters of Indra in Alcobendas, the new chancellery of the Embassy of Spain in Rabat, the special plan for the university campus in Madrid called Plan Especial Ciudad Universitaria de Madrid, the urban planning on the side of the Manzanares River after the burial underground of the M30, the full refurbishment of the Edificio España in Plaza de España in Madrid and the new Market and the Sports Centre in Plaza de la Cebada in Madrid; and all of them have received prizes in different Architecture Contests.
 

  • Enrique Álvarez-Sala Walther (Madrid, 1952) graduated in Architecture at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid (ETSAM) 1977; Associate Teacher at the Construction Department of the ETSAM 1983-2006.
     
  • Carlos Rubio Carvajal (Barcelona, 1950) graduated in Architecture at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura in Madrid (ETSAM) 1977; Associate Teacher at the Architectural Projects’ Department of the ETSAM 1978-2004 and member of the Governing Board and President of the Culture Department of the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid COAM 1985-1986 y 1998.