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text by Jean Nouvel Atelier
photo by Duccio Malagamba
and Atelier Jean Nuovel
architect: Atelier Jean Nouvel
consultant: Hubert Tonka
study: October 1999
realization: 2001 (beginning)
location: Avenida Diagonal
Barcelona - Spain
client: Layetana Inmuebles S.L.
Mestre Nicolau 19,
08021 Barcelona
engineers: Gepro (fluids)
R. Brufau & A. Obiol (structure)
consultant: Xavier Ferres
(Biosca Botey) (Faades)
Alain Bony (color)
project architect:
AJN: Jean Pierre Bouanha
b720: Vander Lemes
architects:
study: Florence Rabiet,
Alexa Plasencia, Emmanuelle
Lapointe, Cristina Algas, Julie
Fernandez, Francisco Martinez,
Manell Bermudo, Pascaline Paris,
Elisabeth Farres
building site: Francisco Martinez,
Pablo Garrido, Alexa Plasencia,
Cristina Algas
quantity surveyor:
Argos Management
program: tower 142 m headquarter
of the society Aguas de Barcelona
(AGBAR) + auditorium 350 places
gross floor area:
47.500 sqm (17.500 infrastructure,
30.000 superstructure)
model: Etienne Follenfant
final images: Artefactory
model photo: Gaston

Agbar Tower
Barcelona
Atelier Jean Nouvel
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It is no tower or skyscraper
in the American sense of the
term: it is a unique object that
emerges from the center of a
quite calm city.
But it is not a slender, nervous
vertical line, like an arrow or
like the belfries that generally
project from horizontal cities.
Rather, it is a uid mass that
cuts into the ground,
a geyser with a permanent
and carefully dosed pressure.
The surface of the building
evokes water: smooth,
continuous but also vibrant
and transparent, because the
material reveals its depth,
colored and uncertain,
luminous and shaded. This
architecture issues from the
ground, but its weight is not
that of stone. Even if it may
be a distant echo of old
Catalan obsessions carried
by the wind blowing from the
Monserrat.
The irregularity of the material
and the light make the belfry
of Agbar vibrate against the
skyline of Barcelona.
A distant mirage, by day
and by night.
A landmark indicating the
entrance of the new diagonal
axis of the Las Glorias piazza,
a singular object symbolizing
the international metropolis.
Non una torre, un grattacielo nel senso americano
del termine: un oggetto unico che emerge al centro
di una citt piuttosto calma.
Ma non una linea verticale slanciata e nervosa
come una freccia o come i campanili che
generalmente punteggiano le citt orizzontali.
piuttosto una massa uida che perfora il suolo,
un geyser a pressione permanente e dosata.
La supercie delledicio evoca lacqua: liscia,
continua ma anche vibrante e trasparente poich la
materia si legge in profondit, colorata e incerta,
luminosa e ombreggiata. Questa architettura viene
dalla terra ma non ha il peso della pietra. Anche
se potrebbe essere una lontana eco delle vecchie
ossessioni formali catalane portate dal vento che
sofa dal Monserrat.
Lirregolarit del materiale e della luce fanno vibrare
il campanile di Agbar nello skyline di Barcellona.
Lontano miraggio di giorno come di notte.
Segnale di ingresso della nuova diagonale dalla
piazza di Las Glorias, singolare oggetto simbolo
di una metropoli internazionale.
00 1 1
Planta Baja
05 25 20
1/500
site plan
01. Park Gell
02. Sagrada Familia
03. Mediterranean sea
04. Park de la Ciudadela
05. Barceloneta
06. Puerto Olmpico
07. Mediterranean sea
coffe corner
meeting room
lift L1-L6
waiting area
lift L7-L8
ofce
meeting room
waiting room waiting area
type oor
total capacity 43 people
01
02
03 04
05
06
07
0 2 5 10
1
1
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+142.00
+134.28
+131.62
+128.75
+121.05
+117.20
+06.50
0.00
-05.70
Diagrama Usos.
00 14 21 07 30
board
of directors'
caf
auditorium caf hall connective offices board
of directors
parking technical
plan
multi-function
spaces
medical
services
auditorium
dispatching
hall
type floor plan
caf
type floor plan
board of directors
chair room
caf
SALA DE ESPERA
SALA DEL CONSEJO
TRADUCTORES
SALA DEL COMITE EJECUTIVO
SECRETARIA
PLANTA 29. SALA DEL CONSEJO
00 02 05 10
01. Parque Gell
02. Sagrada Familia
03. Mar Mediterrneo
04. Parque de la Ciudadela
05. Barceloneta
06. Puerto Olmpico
07. Mediterrneo
SALA DE ESPERA
SALON
RESERVA
BAR
ALMACEN
SALON SALON
PLANTA 25. CAFETERA ALTA DIRECCIN.
00 02 05 10 01. Parque Gell
02. Sagrada Familia
03. Mar Mediterrneo
04. Parque de la Ciudadela
05. Barceloneta
06. Puerto Olmpico
07. Mediterrneo
ACCESO
ACCESO
CONSEJO DELEGADO
SALA DE REUNION
SECRETARIA
SALA DE ESPERA
PRIVADO
PLANTA 28. DESPACHO DEL CONSEJO DELEGADO
00 02 05 10
01. Parque Gell
02. Sagrada Familia
03. Mar Mediterrneo
04. Parque de la Ciudadela
05. Barceloneta
06. Puerto Olmpico
07. Mediterrneo
DESPACHO DEL PRESIDENTE
PRIVADO
SALA DE ESPERA
SALA DEL COMITE EJECUTIVO
SECRETARIA
PLANTA 30. DESPACHO PRESIDENTE
00 02 05 10
01. Parque Gell
02. Sagrada Familia
03. Mar Mediterrneo
04. Parque de la Ciudadela
05. Barceloneta
06. Puerto Olmpico
07. Mediterrneo
COMEDOR PRESIDENTE
COMEDOR
OFFICE
PLANTA 31. COMEDOR PRESIDENTE Y NIVEL PANORMICO
00 02 05 10
01. Parque Gell
02. Sagrada Familia
03. Mar Mediterrneo
04. Parque de la Ciudadela
05. Barceloneta
06. Puerto Olmpico
07. Mediterrneo
1. 25th oor Caf for the board
of chair
1. A. entry
1. B. bar
1. C. lounge
1. D. Storehouse
2. 28th oor
ofce of the board of directors
2. A. entry
2. B. secretarys ofce
2. C. board of directors
2. D. meeting room
2. E. waiting room
3. 29th oor deputy hall
3. A. entry
3. B. deputy meeting room
3. C. interpreter room
3. D. executive commitee room
3. E. secretarys ofce
4. 30th oor presidents ofce
4. A. entry
4. B. presidents ofce
4. C. waiting room
4. D. executive commitee room
4. E. secretarys ofce
5. 31st oor private lounge
of the president and panoramic level
5. A entry
5. B. ofce
5. C. lounge
5.D. presidents lounge
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4 2
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interior skin. Transition cupola-shaft
concrete wall connections, brackets
and vertical rods
tin frame windows
insulating silk-skreen
printed glass foils
upkeep band undulated foils
north west south east
change of illumination angles
winter solstice
00 06 12 30
external skin diagram of the blades angles
angle 48 transparent glass
angle 44 printed glass
angle 40 printed glass
angle 34 printed glass
angle 30 printed glass
angle 25 printed glass
angle 20 printed glass
angle 48 printed glass
angle 53 printed glass
angle 58 printed glass
angle 62 printed glass
angle 67 printed glass
angle 72 printed glass
angle 76 printed glass
angle 20 transparent glass
00 06 12 30
1
1
4
D04
D03
D05
D01
D02
1. structural wall in reinforced concrete.
2. internal covering of the facade: insulation,
air chamber, corrugated sheet of varnished
aluminium
3. external facing: uprights in anodized
aluminium, glass panes, support of the panes
with different inclinations, with prole in
anodized aluminium
4. maintenance footbridge: support shelf, proles
in anodized extruded aluminium, platforms in
galvanized steel
5. window module: structural steelwork in
varnished aluminium, glass with interspace,
perimetral strips in EPDM
6. internal entrance of the window, folded sheet in
mirror-polished anodized aluminium
7. internal extrados of the facade
8. structure of tubular proles in steel
9. facade: facing of quartzite slabs, lime mortar,
ribbed web in galvanized steel
10. shutter in varnished aluminium
11. external facing in the area of the windows
on the facade with uprights in anodized
aluminium, glass panes, supports of the panes
with different inclinations, with prole in
anodized aluminum and glass sheets
12. cascade
13. waterproong
14. swimming pool
15. plate in reinforced concrete
16. ceiling
17. beams in reproof laminated steel
18. sheet frame in galvanized steel and reinforced
concrete
19. nished technical base platform with sheets in
galvanized steel sheets
20. springer of the dome
21. plaster ceiling
22. raised oor slab
23. parapet
24. projecting slab with variable thickness
25. continuous terrace oor
26. ceiling of the executive area plan
27. horizontal connection between uprights and
external facing
28. wind bracing in galvanized steel
29. structure of the dome
30. internal facing of the dome
31. maintenance footbridge of the dome
32. external facing of the dome
33. fan
34. platform for the installation of the antennas
35. upper structure of the external facing.
Composite material that is permeable
to electromagnetic waves
36. internal porthole
37. external porthole
38. level ceiling
39. barrier in varnished steel
40. oating slab in concrete placed above acoustic
00 0.5 01 02
31
32
33 34 36 37
D02.
00 0.5 01 02
30
29
28
27
20
2
D03. planta tipo
00 0.5 01 02
0 0.5 1 2
D01
D02
D03
0 0.5 1 2
0 0.5 1 2
2
3
4
39
D04. planta tcnica
00 0.5 01 02
D05. detalle estanque
00 0.5 01 02
D04
D05
0 0.5 1 2
0 0.5 1 2
detail - section