Torre Espacio. La estructura del edificio

Torre Espacio. Building structure

223 m high above ground level, the Torre Espacio was designed by combining reinforced concrete supports and solid slabs of the same material. Partially determined by the preferences of the building?s promoter company, this structural approach allows it to be easily adapted to the conditioning factors determined by the building?s plan variability. A flexible structure was designed which could be built at a steady rate of between three and four floors a month. The structure?s design relies on the cooperation of its monolithic nature to increase its horizontal stiffness since the supports connected by the floor slabs to the cores fully cooperated to such end. Steel, composite or prestressed concrete elements were used in some singular elements (foundation slab, load bearing beams, outriggers, special columns). The 27.8 m span load bearing beams solve the problem of the elimination of columns in areas providing access to the building, whilst the outrigger connecting the core to the supports required HA-80 concrete pumping in to a height of 130 m above ground level. Cooperation from the teams in charge of executing the work during the design drafting stage enabled the important construction conditioning factors associated to a project of this size to be taken into account in a very accurate fashion.