Windsor Tower (Madrid)

Torre Windsor
General information
Status Destroyed
Type Office
Location C/Raimundo Fdez. Villaverde 65, Madrid, Spain
Coordinates 40°26′49″N 3°41′40″W / 40.44694°N 3.69444°W / 40.44694; -3.69444Coordinates: 40°26′49″N 3°41′40″W / 40.44694°N 3.69444°W / 40.44694; -3.69444
Construction started 1975
Completed 1979
Destroyed February 12, 2005
Owner Ason Inmobiliaria
Height
Roof 106 m (348 ft)
Technical details
Floor count 3 below, 29 above
Design and construction
Architect Gabinete Alas-Casariego
Windsor Tower on February 13, 2005

The Windsor Tower (Spanish: Torre Windsor) was an office building in the financial center of Madrid, Spain. Built in 1979, it was 106 m high and had 32 floors of which 29 were above ground level and 3 below, thus ranking it as the eighth tallest building in Madrid (and 23rd in Spain). The building was gutted by a huge fire on February 12, 2005, and partially collapsed; it has since been demolished.

Characteristics of the building

The building, located at Calle Raimundo Fernández Villaverde 65, had a total area of 20,000 square metres (220,000 sq ft) and was one of the first modern towers in Madrid. The tower was designed in 1974 by a team of six important Spanish architects and was constructed between 1975 and 1979.

Its distinctive appearance was due to its elemental geometry, lacking composite elements. Its façade was completely covered by reflective glass-like panels that mirrored the sky of Madrid, diminishing its visual impact. The structure was divided into two halves by a mechanical floor without windows. It was a very solid building, with a central core of reinforced concrete that resisted the high temperatures of the fire without collapsing. The building did not have a fire sprinkler system. Sprinklers were being retrofitted, but they were not yet operable when the building was destroyed by fire.[1]

Disaster

Around midnight, on Saturday, February 12, 2005, a fire was detected on the 21st floor of the building. The fire spread quickly throughout the entire building, leading to the collapse of the outermost, steel parts of the upper floors. It took firefighters about 24 hours to extinguish the fire. In the aftermath, seven firefighters were injured, but luckily, nobody was killed during the disaster. However, the building was a total loss, which was arguably the worst in Madrid's history. The fire was blamed on an electrical fault.

The city council of Madrid covered the cost of demolishing the remains of the building, thought to be some EUR22 million (USD $32.5 million). Demolition was completed in August 2005, and a 23-story replacement called Torre Titania was built from 2007 to 2011.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Standing Committee on Structural Safety, "The Fire at Torre Windsor Office Building, Madrid 2005"
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