Offices with a three-dimensional cladding. Azca Tower by Grupo GUBIA

Description of project by Grupo GUBIA

Advanced technical solutions for architecture and construction in Torre Titania

The event hall of the skyscraper sports a very complex three-dimensional cladding on a technical level solved with bamboo and plywood phenolic boards.

The raised access floor of the space, which has just obtained the Leed Gold classification, is made up of steel sheets and lightened concrete that gives it high resistance to loads.

Torre Titania, also known as Torre Azca, has already become one of the emblematic buildings of the financial district of Madrid. Located on Paseo de la Castellana, this architecture built on the remains of the Windsor Tower (destroyed in 2005 by fire) houses a shopping center and office space on a total of 27 floors that rise 103.7m from the ground. In it, for two of its main spaces -the event room and the offices- constructive technical solutions have been developed that have required a detailed and specialized study in order to meet the needs of a technical program that is not easy.

The sculptural and highly complex technical work of Grupo GUBIA

Crowning the skyscraper, there is a unique meeting and event room in the capital due to its views of the entire city skyline, as well as its three-dimensional cladding and technical uniqueness. Grupo GUBIA, a Sevillian studio specialized in the design and construction of spaces in wood and bamboo, has been in charge of the technical advice and the execution of this complex spatial geometry with unique encounters and details on the polyhedral base of the space.

Due to the variable atmospheric conditions in temperature and humidity of the room, GUBIA recommended the use of bamboo (a very stable and warm material at the same time) and WBP phenolic plywood finished in black lacquer to create the central volumetry.

It is the conical development of a 60x38mm GUBIA BSP38 CV solid bamboo slatted cladding, placed with a minimum separation between them, which embraces the entire space. As a basis for this cladding, Grupo GUBIA's technical department has manufactured 84 wooden trusses classified by levels in different radii and curvatures.

Elevated three meters above the occupancy plane, the bamboo (treated with a colorless saturator that maintains the natural appearance of the material unchanged) blends and contrasts with the black lacquer of a sculptural cladding with a carefree character that surrounds the trapezoidal shape of the area of stairs.

The use of Grupo GUBIA bamboo enhances the brightness of the room and the welcoming character of a space that lends itself to social relations, where the comfort of the attendees is essential. On the other hand, the light that is naturally propelled through the windows that close the space, creates a striking play of shadows on the inclined planes of the central sculpture, a sequence of pyramids that invite ingenuity and inspiration.

POLYGROUP technology with Leed Gold rating for pavement

Likewise, another of the unique technical solutions that characterize this event room is its flooring. Given that the hustle and bustle of day-to-day traffic are high, POLYGROUP, an international company based in Seville, a manufacturer of high-quality raised floors, has contributed its experience to the configuration of an innovative and stable flooring system, called GAMAFLOR FULL STEEL; a technology that only POLYGROUP manufactures in the whole of Europe and that, also, has recently obtained the Leed Gold classification that provides Leed credits to the building.

This type of technical floor, versatile, unalterable against humidity and highly resistant to load, resists fire and also offers great acoustic absorption. It is made up of two electro-welded steel sheets and lightened cement injection, which gives it the highest levels of performance and resistance to dynamic and static loads and finished with anti-corrosive epoxy paint.

The solid GAMAFLOR fully bolted lifting structure (pedestal-crossbar) guarantees total stability, leveling and better acoustic absorption within the different accessible floor systems. The use of inert materials during manufacturing classifies this high flooring system with a 0% moisture absorption index, also obtaining the lowest level of thermal conductivity compared to other raised floor systems.

In this case, a screwed bare raised access floor has been chosen, without a specific finish, for the subsequent laying of a self-supporting floor.

This raised floor system is also used by the most important engineering companies in the United States, both for the commercial sector and for the Data Center, Oil and Gas or Telecommunications technology sector.