Nova Diagonal Tower

Barcelona, Spain

Photo © Adrià Goula

Visualization © MSA+A

Photo © Adrià Goula

Architects: MSA+A

Location: Barcelona, Spain
Year: 2007

This project falls under the main Plan for the south elevation of the Avenue Diagonal extension from Les Glòries plaza to the sea. The plan proposes an elevation of 8 floors with one continuous parapet, which is interrupted every now and again by a system of taller buildings located equidistant from one another.

The tower consists of twenty-one floors, and is aligned to Avenue Diagonal by its most slender facade which is articulated by a 3-storey portico.

The building has two vertical communication cores located at each end of the floorplan, giving access to a number of different homes, from four to eight per floor according to the different flat compositions.

The main housing units occupy the perimeter of the building and the services are concentrated centrally; the living rooms are almost always located in the corners. The dual orientation of the housing ensures sufficient sunlight.

The façade is a continuous, tense plane made from dark aluminium that integrates the windows, doors and blinds. This plane is superimposed with a grid of white light concrete prefabricated elements that protrude slightly from the structural columns and slabs. Some of the concrete white grid bars are strategically hidden to achieve effects of order and scale catering to the views of the building from mid- and long-distances. Like an optical illusion, the discontinuity of the mesh overlaps help to blur the edges and boundaries of the volume.