2023-07-27 14:59:18
The iconic Torres Blancas, in the Madrid district of Chamartín, will have eight apartments on the 22nd floor in what was a restaurant in the 70s and 80sreported the spokesperson, deputy mayor and delegate for Security and Emergencies, Inmaculada Sanz, at the press conference after the Governing Board of the Madrid City Council, the last one before the holiday break.
The Board has agreed to the initial approval of the Special Plan for the 22nd floor of the Torres Blancas building, which proposes the construction of eight independent houses on the penultimate floor of this emblematic building in the capital at the request of a private developer.
Currently, the use permitted by the Special Plan is that of offices. Torres Blancas, located at Avenida de América, 37, is a building designed in 1961 by the architect Francisco Javier Saenz de Oiza for residential use. In this article you can see what this unique building is like inside.
Originally it had two basement floors, 21 floors dedicated to flats, a service floor and two upper floors for the building’s social core. Given its relevance, the building is included in the General Catalog of Protected Buildingswith level 1 protection, singular degree.
The original forecast of the Sáenz de Oiza project for plant 22 was not finally carried out. In fact, this space was transformed into an independent premises once the building in which the Comedor de Ruperto de Nola was granted a license as a bar-restaurant was built. The premises remained active from 1970 to 1985.
Already in 1989 this place was granted a license for tertiary-office use and is currently in disuse and in a poor state of conservation. Now the Special Plan will be submitted to public information for a period of one month.
The proposal proposes to improve the evacuation conditions of the 22nd floor. For this, lobbies will be introduced before the residences to access the two evacuation stairs of the building from the distribution area, a measure that would not be viable with the current distribution.
Another of the planned actions will affect the communication of the mezzanine located under the 22nd floor, connected to it by a staircase. The proposal proposes access to it from common areas and allocating it to non-residential uses outside the homes and their facilities.
Values the visible reinforced concrete structure
The Special Plan also seeks to value the exposed reinforced concrete structure, according to the architect’s original documentation, and to proceed with the restoration of the original blinded holes in the façade.
Among the planned actions, the disassembly of the private staircase that connects floors 22 and 23, the latter currently for private use, is also contemplated.
The proposal for the emblematic building, which arises as a response to the impossibility of implementing its original use as a restaurant due to the capacity problems that this entails, has the approval of the community of residents of the building, which positively values the conversion and whose changes will mean “an improvement in the energy efficiency of the building”.
The mark of Sáenz de Oiza
Apart from the Torres Blancas, Sáenz de Oiza has left his mark on the urban planning of the capital. National Architecture Award on two occasions, Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts (1987) and Prince of Asturias Award for the Arts (1993), the architect worked until his death on July 18, 2000.
His is the Iglesia Hispanoamericana de la Merced (Tetuán), the new Ifema fairgrounds, the Torre BBVA de la Castellana, La Triada, as well as urbanizations in Fuencarral, Batán or El Ruedo, next to the M-30.
white towers
The Torres Blancas building was named like this, in the plural, because it was initially planned for the construction of two buildings. It has a height of 81 meters and a structure made up of cylinders on its outer perimeter.
On the roof there is a swimming pool. Torres Blancas was his most representative work in this area. This macroproject earned him the 1972 COAM Award and the 1974 European Excellence Award. The architect lived in this building until his death in 2000.
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