The Torre Agbar by Jean Nouvel

This is not a tower, a skyscraper, in the American sense. It is a more an emergence, rising singularly in the center of a generally calm city. Unlike slender spires and bell towers that typically pierce the horizons of horizontal cities, this tower is a fluid mass that bursts through the ground like a geyser under permanent, calculated pressure.

Its design combines a number of different architectural concepts, resulting in a striking structure built with reinforced concrete, covered with a facade of glass, and over 4,500 window openings cut out of the structural concrete. The building stands out in Barcelona; it is the third tallest building in the city, after the Arts Hotel and the Mapfre Tower, which both stand 154 m tall.

A defining feature of the building is its nocturnal illumination. It has 4,500 LED devices that allow generation of luminous images on its façade. In addition, the outside of the tower has temperature sensors that regulate the opening and closing of the window blinds of the façade, reducing the consumption of energy for air conditioning. 

It houses the head office of the Aigües de Barcelona Group, the water supply company of Barcelona. The surface of the building evokes water: smooth and continuous, shimmering and transparent, its materials reveal themselves in nuanced shades of color and light. It is architecture of the earth without the heaviness of stone, like a distant echo of old Catalan formal obsessions carried by a mysterious wind off the Monserrat.

The ambiguities of material and light make the Agbar tower resonate against Barcelona's skyline day and night, like a distant mirage, marking the entry into the diagonal avenue from the Plaça de les Glorias. This singular object will become the new symbol of Barcelona the international city, and become one of its best ambassadors.