The new BBVA headquarters
We take part in design and worksite management for corporate building projects, like the BBVA headquarters in Madrid’s financial district.
General information
Date: 2010
Client: Herzog & de Meuron
Location: Madrid - Spain
Photo copyright: Gettyimages
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Project summary
We worked on the project to build the bank’s new headquarters and central offices, with around 6,000 workstations in a people‑focused building that transports its users from the outside world, taking them to an inner landscape of gardens and low-rise structures.
Project details
The new BBVA headquarters project is located on a rectangular plot on a slight slope. The building’s horizontal volume is based on an expansive but low-level layout, with three floors of offices above ground and three underground levels of parking. The building’s ground floor opens onto an oval-shaped courtyard, from which a tower emerges.
The structure of the horizontal building is made up of reinforced concrete pillars and solid post-tensioned slabs, positioned at heights adapted to the load-bearing requirements and the spans between the different pillars. The slabs have intermediary ramps that bridge the height differences between the outer edges of the site.
The tower is based on a rectangular ground floor plan and stands 19 storeys high (93.65 m) above ground as well as three basement floors. Its vertical structure is made up of quadrants of tangent elliptical shapes that, together, form a ring that appears to be cut off at its base at ground level. The top is a domed shape.
The configuration of the main structure of the tower is made up of a rigid reinforced concrete core, which includes the building’s vertical access points, and the curved walls of the eastern and western facades outline its elliptical shape. The framework is supported by two lines of pillars on the wider sides of the facade that are all made of reinforced or prestressed concrete.
