Although the new generations have taken it upon themselves to put an end to the cliché of short Spaniards, the truth is that in terms of architecture we do continue with complexes of size. The building that closest touches the sky in our country is close to 250 meters, a ridiculous height compared to the tallest skyscrapers in the world.
Asia and the Middle East account for the largest concrete colossi today, but some Spanish buildings can boast of being the tallest in Europe in their category.
If the 10 tallest buildings in Spain could be stacked, they would form a column of two kilometers. Madrid is the city with the most vertiginous skyline, but there is also room on the list for other places in the North, South and East of the country. This is the ranking of the largest national towers:
The tallest building in Spain, and fourth in Europe, is located on Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid. The watchtower of the financial area Cuatro Torres Business Area has 50 floors and more than 40,000 square meters of glass. Inaugurated in 2009, the skyscraper designed by Argentine architect César Pelli is owned by the insurance company Mutua Madrileña.
The Cepsa Tower is barely one meter smaller than its neighbor, the Torre de Cristal. Norman Foster was in charge of shaping this 49-story giant, which was also presented to society in 2009. Since then, it has been given the names of its different owners: Torre Repsol, until 2007; Torre Caja Madrid, until 2013 and Torre Bankia, until 2014. Amancio Ortega bought the building in 2017.
The Spanish architecture studios Carlos Rubio Carvajal and Enrique Álvarez-Sala Walther were commissioned to draw the lines of another of the Four Towers. This 52-story building stands out for the voluminous pieces of its façade with scale-like glass. inside it houses the five-star EuroStars Madrid Tower hotel, which occupies up to the 31st floor.
The Torre Emperador Castellana, formerly known as Torre Espacio, closes the quartet of Madrid colossi. It is the smallest of the buildings (with 57 floors above ground) in the financial area and also the oldest (2007), but it is also a benchmark in terms of design, efficiency and security. The design and construction was carried out by Henry N. Cobb (studio Pei Cobb Freed
Intempo, the tallest residential building in Europe, is now completely finished and all that remains is for the new owners of the 251 apartments, whose prices reach 2 million euros, to receive the keys and first occupancy licences. This enormous building is the tallest in Benidorm, considered the city with the most skyscrapers per inhabitant in the world and the second in terms of the number of them per square meter.
Benidorm also has the tallest hotel in Europe. With 52 floors and exclusive rooms, it was inaugurated in 2002 and at that time was crowned as the tallest building in Spain, surpassing the Torre Picasso in Madrid. It bears the signature of the architect Antonio Escario.
Known as Madrid’s Fifth Tower, it is a 36-story building in the financial area of ??the capital. The tower is designed by the architecture studios Fenwick Iribarren and Serrano-Suñer Arquitectura, it is inspired by the monolith from the film 2001: A Space Odyssey, by Stanley Kubrick. Although its construction was completed, it has not yet been inaugurated.
The first skyscraper in Seville was inaugurated in 2015 in the southern sector of the island of La Cartuja. In its 40 floors and ground floors it houses offices, a shopping center and a hotel, among other facilities. It is powered by clean energy thanks to photovoltaic modules. It is owned by CaixaBank.
It is an office space with fifty tenant companies, spread over its 41 floors. Iberdrola and BBK are the owners of the Bilbao skyscraper. Work of César Pelli, it was inaugurated in 2012.
With 43 floors and 204 homes, it is the third tallest building in Benidorm, but it stands out from the rest as it stands 82 meters above sea level, on the slopes of Sierra Helada, reaching a height of 237 meters. It was inaugurated in 2012.