um, sorry ... this is the one in the morning..

why does it have to look like norman foster's one trademark building so much.? that's so boring.

I really like it. Thumbs up to the colorful facade. Thanks for the pictures.

Agbar Tower =
Foster + Alsop + Sauerbruch/Hutton + Saia/Barbarese
(see ingredients below)


Foster+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Alsop++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Sauerbruch/Hutton+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Saia/Barbarese+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

I dont mind though, really, it is just a little tubby and scaleless, but the pixels do help.

i walk right next to this tower every day to go to the studio.... i still dunno if i like it, lets try to analize as a normal citizen... i think is not "that" ugly...let me analize it from my arch student point of view: i expected more from nouvel.... i mean...this building is very stupid and also im sure it took them 2 weeks to draw it (including details and shit), offset, offset, offset...u have all the plans

Get serious, that doesn't strike me as an easy project to pull off.
To get a client to agree to an (if not pure, at least) uncompromising form?
I doubt that this project required any less resources to document than any other tower of similar volume.
Architects (or students) seem to be so bloody quick to condemn (notice I didn't say criticise - that implies progressive intention).

ok...follow the progression of my thoughts...i think Torre AGBAR at Barcelona by Jean Nouvel Atelier (whomever is responsible) sucks

as serious as i can get

(i actually think Nouvel wasn't very serious when projecting that tower, and about the client...fucking Nouvel is a diva..clients looking for him they better accept what he wants or he just walk away...dont u know this story about the meeting with Nouvel and Mr. Cartier??, anyway, i dont like it, thats all, and im no one to critizise)

sorry for the F*cking...never used that kind of words here...i think i got carried away

i always expect more from nouvel

thanks for the pics, Medit !!

what does the top portion look like at night? you can see the transparency and double skin in your 'the end of the day' pic ...

i wish they would have built my favorite nouvel tower, tour sans fin:



~ would have been nice blending into the sky .. oh well.

that's because it's not finished yet, if you check out Nouvel's website you'll see how it supposedly will look like when they finish it... the pixelate interior surface lose its color on top but there are the same glass louvres all over the tower's surface...

so far the building at night looks like this (Agbar at the right, Sagrada Familia in the middle and the Forum area at left)... but I think this pic is from some time ago, maybe summer...

I have a special issue of a spanish construction magazine about the Agbar tower with lots of construction details and I bet they spent more than to weeks to draw them... and I don't care which tower came first, I think Foster's Swiss Re looks as good (or as bad) as this one, in fact Nouvel's tower it's thinner than Foster's...

fosters pickle handles the skin in suck a way, that the proportions of the building is lower, and doesn't look like a giant tower, i think that is a very fine use of proportions (even though i do not like the building itself)

nouvel does not have such finnesse and the building looks quite large, and the units are the proportional refference, this makes it look out of human scale....dunno how it works in its inmediate context.......but the picture of it next to the sagrada familia makes it look like a really really big thing, dildo, whatever

....handles the skin in SUCH a way............... i meant :ob

I dig it

I actually worked in Nouvel's office while this started construction and let me tell you, it didn't take "2 weeks" to draw. If you've ever seen a set of Nouvel's construction documents you'd know what I mean, they're to thick to carry by yourself! I saw some insane CAD files of the 'random' concrete hole punch pattern underneath the skin, quite amazing. They flattened the cylinder into one plane, which wasn't really a plane since the building bulges and tapers. Also, to whoever criticized the "dumbness" of the structure, the engineers created a completely new, one of a kind, structural grid to handle the bulging.

I got a tour of the construction site and only then fully realized the complexity of the sunshading system. My only complaint about the skin is that the louvers aren't operable. Still the building is a true lightbox that never appears the same.

the Foster ripoff comment--
Sure the shape is similar but who gives a shit about form. It's the way the two buildings handle technology that shows their differences. Foster engineers new knick knacks mostly to control the comfort of a building and to be innovative structurally. This is fine and dandy but for the most part i find these uses of tech. quite boring and somewhat overdone. Most buildings i use daily are comfortable enough without super fancy sunshades; they're also structurally sound even though they aren't supported by exterior x-braced lattices. Nouvel is different because he uses technology in a way that creates experiential effects.
Technology is evolving in a way that things are getting smaller,less noticeable, and more transparent--figuratively and literally. Security systems for example, are getting more transparent. You walk into a building or car, what have you, and the door recognizes you and disengages the locks. You don't see it or even have to think about it: its transparent. Things are evolving to become less of an objectional burden on our lives, to let us navigate more subjectively. Nouvel manipulates technology in this manner, quite the same as Mies actually, to free up the condition of our modern lives and let them be the focus through the cloud of an architectural subsystem. The Cartier foundation is another great example of this philosophy. The mullion systems, though they look quite standard, span 3 times the distance of your typical mullion. Nouvel felt no need to express this engineering marvel as Foster would have, thank god he didn't because it would have ruined the building. You see, the technology is there but it's always hidden: transparent. The user is left with more questions than answers. How does that stand? What's holding the roof up? This subliminal phenomena is much more interesting, in my opinion, than Foster's straight forward approach of 'what you see is what you get'.

The Agbar Torre works this way mostly contextually...

oh no.. this picture is a postcard for tourists... they have photoshopped the Agbar, the SF, the Forum buildings and the Miralles tower (?) -between the SF and the Agbar- to create an imaginary Barcelona skyline... but it's the only nocturnal pic that I've found... the heights as presented here as impossible.. the Agbar is 144 m. and the SF is 112 m... in this picture, the Agbar looks almost as 200 m...
(sorry abot the m. thing... we don't use ft.)

is it a giant pen15?

nouvel is the man... if i did that, people would think im a perv.

i applaud to however he got that done.

it took them 2 weeks to draw it

MADianito you have to be a complete morron to disrespect the work of many people in such a way. The progression of your thougth should lead you directly to the restroom, you can just throw you're thought in and pull the flush...

ok, i just got back from nouvels web site....and like it had happened to me a while ago, i disliked everything i saw........graphic representations are UGLY, design suks.......its nonappealing

this tower, whatever fantastic tecnology uses looks very bad.........dont think it contributes to the city aesthetically - wise. even if it has 64bit toilets.

HEY fRENCH.....im not a moron, i just think at their age i would be way much better than most of the "sacred cows"...seems u will feel happy by just building a country house, anyway, im not expecting to be judged by my opinions...must of times im just trying to tell u all that this is like: 'rock n' roll is just music' so i really found sometimes stupid to deeply analize a building, and if u wanted a deeper analyzis from me... it would be very easy, regarding AGBAR...its unvelievable an architect with such experience and category as Nouvel has to build and design a building with 3 skins!!! i mean u know how much money that costs??? (the concrete pixels, the louvers, and the glass) for me thats fucking stupid...for me is not smart to build buildings which cost millions of euros/dollars in such a stupid solutions (does anyone if after all those skins they still have air conditioning systems??? or heating???), another example?? MIRALLES Pairlament in Edinburgh...so..Frenchy...dont buy/eat everything the magazines tell u, and dont think someone sucks or is good just because the magazines tell u he's good, or because he has been a household for so many years, or because he spends 6 months or more drawing the construction plans for a little house.... being good or not in architecture is not based on that....so yeah, but my point was that most of my comments r to try to pull a laugh out of u guys...seems u r too uptight to find humor in irony...anyway keep stressing about architecture (why dont we architects can enjoy buildings as regular citizens??)...and yeah...its all about the attitude, and trust me, im going to be so much good than Nouvel at his age (u can always call me for a job doing cad drawings).....

peace and love my devoted friends/readers

Nouvel deserve me some respect but not as much as some people is havingg to them...guys...f*ck 'em, is our time...i just dont idolatrize any STARchitect

if your concern is the problematic predominance of the starchitects, I agree with you, it is a problem. But at the same time you have to realize that when you make simplistic comments about such a big project, you not offending Jean Nouvel that much but the people that actually get to work on the project. By the way, there are only two layers : a louver facade and a concrete structure/facade pierced with squarish windows. But you pointed out a true problem in the project: this type of double layer facade is not energy efficient at all in a mediterranean climate. From this point of view, the project is weak, and the rest of nouvel's architecture present the same problems/ more concerned with the image than with cost, or sustainable architecture, or even programatic reflexion. Once you know that, you can talk about the project in a different way and see if the ratio original goal of the project/ built result is effective or not. To me it is in that case. I 'm not a huge fan of Nouvel, but I think among the starchitects is one of the most interesting. But you are right, it's time for guys like him to let room for guys like you, you sound like him... maybe you'll post some of your stuff like Per Correll does?

[/i]But you are right, it's time for guys like him to let room for guys like you, you sound like him[i]

good one...

well i posted already some of my work..., u can check my BLOG cause u dont sound like Rem so its pretty much obvious ur letting escape a lot of information that may be useful for u my frenchy friend... anyway im just against taking architecture and our own opinions and observations too serious...like u who seems to take it very personal any comment i make....

by the way...Rem had earn millions of money out of being sarcastic about architecture (its the same thing im trying to do)

P.S. i can't be by Nouvel, im not french (dont even want to) i dont smoke...and im not bald and arrogant (yet, but anything can happen my friends)

there aren't offices in the last floors so it will reamin opaque I guess... (I think it'll look better if they add some kind of lighting on top... but that wouldn't make it more energy efficient either...)

anyway this thing it's not finished yet so we'll have to wait.. but i've found these other recent closer nocturnal pics, 1, 2, 3, 4

well, my mistake, actually there will be offices on top too..
this tower is property of the water company Agbar Aigües de Barcelona... so its a private building, there won't be any public spaces.. what I meant is that all the offices in the main body of the tower are for employees, but the last six floors are for the executives... of these six floors the five on top are cantilevered from the reinforced concrete central core and they don't reach the facade.. you can see that now its all dark, because they have not occupied the last floors yet.. but the top of the building will be covered only with the glass louvers so maybe, depending on how they light those offices, it will look like a lighthouse.. but I don't know, I'm just speculating, I've never seen how it supposedly will look like at night... I don't think it'll take too long until they finish it.. maybe a couple of months or so...

givemeastamp, here are some more recent nocturnal views: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

It looks like Paris Hilton herself designed the new Barcelona Hilton...
(soory for the cheap joke, couldn't resist)

Wow !! pics 3, 4, and 5 have a beautiful sky !

is Nouvel doing the slab building to the left? the one to the left has a similar 'pixel' type approach to the facade but at a large scale ...

you know, Foster's approach really brings the scale of his building down - the diamond patterns cover 4+ floor plates and make it look like a mid-rise kind of thing.

Nouvel's approach is totally different as suggested by Mason White. His facade makes the building look huge - like its 200+ floors. the pixels emphasize the horizontal and by using what appears to be 3 windows per floor, he triples the perceived height.

Foster's looks like a temporary building/sculpture to me ... Nouvel's feels like a sky-scraper and a city within a city (especially pic #5). You can always count on Nouvel for using materials to create cool architectural effects.

exciting !! i can't wait to see it finished.

No, that building is the Hotel Silken I, and the architect is Juli Capella, the president of the FAD association in Barcelona, an organization of architects, graphic, industrial and textile designers, etc...
there are two buildings next to the tower as you can see in this map, the Silken hotel and another one in the corner which will be, I think, a residential building... going down the Diagonal avenue, in the next triangular block (the one with a small green triangle) will hold a couple of office blocks designed by David Chipperfield.. that, presumably, will look like this..

I don't dislike Foster's tower at all, -specially at night, though then the spiral design looks like a cage-.. but I think the proportions make them look very different.. Foster's can look like a fat thing depending on the perspective.. and the Agbar will probably look too pixelate during the day and if you're too close -the glass louvres will do the trick at sunrise and sunset or with weird daylights because they are inclinated and the sun rays will play with the colors-...

Some people say Nouvel's tower is inspired in Foster's but, as far as I know, the original Nouvel design is an abstraction of this mountain, called Montserrat, which is less than an hour from Barcelona ... its one of the icons of Catalonia -the nazis went there in the 30's looking for the Holy Grail- and Nouvel took it as a reference.. the fact that both towers share a similar silhouette doesn't mean they are shaped from the same pattern, they are two different beasts...

Just my 2 eurocents.

so, finally the thing has been inaugurated today, with archi-electronic fireworks (or an oversaturated funky lighting)... as seen here and here



Nouvel talking archi-stuff with a king (a spanish bourbon, no less *sigh*):


next landmarkish architectural stops for Barcelona: Toyo Ito's twisted towers..


and Frank O. Gehry playing eco-architecture...


McDonough will do something around here as well -half an urban office block-, so eco-archi we go.. still not like Germany but we're trying... stay tuned.

on starchitects:

i have a suspicion that they are that big for a reason and the only way to get there is to be that good. i mean come on how many of YOU have written a book equivalent to Delirious New York. how old was Rem when he did that? 34, 35...something like that, and everything since then has been pretty amazing. i dislike nouvel's work immensely, but can't deny that his stuff is far beyond common.

on the tower:
I like the pixels but i still wonder why nouvel would look to foster for inspiration. surreal ennit?