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Barcelona Radio Station
Radio Barcelona was established in 1922 and began broadcasting in 1924 from the Hotel Colón in Barcelona. The station's antennas were located on top of Tibidabo and it was necessary to build a building for the machines, which Rubió i Tudurí was commissioned to do. However, we have to mention a problem with dates. Rubió himself attributes the start of the project in 1922. However, as Antonio Pizza specifies, the plans are dated from 1929. In his book ‘Dialogues on architecture’ from 1927, Rubió introduces the thought of Le Corbusier in Catalonia, a rationalism which is already reflected in this pavilion. The Radio Barcelona station contains machines and transmitters, but also some rooms for visits and receptions that are reminiscent of Fritz Lang's Metropolis. This project and the 1934 Goldwin Meyer Metro building in Barcelona are two projects linked to the audiovisual world that express the modernity of these new technologies. However, throughout his career, Rubió worked interchangeably with various styles, depending on the demands of the assignment. He also developed various restorations and historicist proposals, such as the Monastery of Montserrat and the Convent of Pedralbes.1922 - 1929
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Edifici d'Oficines Telefónica a Tarragona
Ignacio Cárdernas Pastor, Luís Clavero Margatí, Santiago Garcia Claramunt, Paulino Justo Gayo Marín
1934
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1971
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1972
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1972 - 1975
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Telephone Exchange
Bach-Mora Arquitectes, Jaume Bach i Núñez, Gabriel Mora i Gramunt
En el punt de confluència de les fortuïtes alineacions de carrers d’una barriada vertical contemporània de Reus, es situa aquesta peça composada, com és usual, de dos parts desiguals: equip i oficines. La decisió de tractar-les de forma unitària, en continuïtat, i la corba de la façana com a mitjà de transcendir els límits irregulars del solar, són les dues decisions principals, tot i que, conceptualment, l'horitzontalitat de les finestres es planteja com a opció, des de l'idea del públic, a la verticalitat dominant de la multiplicitat del privat.1986 - 1990
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Telephone Exchange and Teleport
Clotet, Paricio & Associats, Lluís Clotet i Ballús, Ignacio Paricio i Ansuategui
The initial programme for this project described a building complex that was to house the facilities for the treatment and reception of satellite signals, a telephone exchange and premises for the management and sale of these services. These functions were grouped in the two main buildings: a representative building with offices and an exhibition hall with a small bar, as well as a technical building which is the teleport itself. The programme also included a security control and premises for conventional installations. Of all this, only the technical building and those of installations and control have been built. In the technical building, the importance of the network of connections and its frequent modification due to technological innovations finally led to a square floor plan completely surrounded by a perimeter corridor of access and service. To complete the effectiveness of this corridor and the flexibility of the connections, numerous vertical ducts have been placed that allow the direct passage of the installations from the ground floor to all the others, including the roof. A certain homogeneity in the premises that make up the building, the margin of the surfaces and the security with which an evolutionary programme must be treated led to solving the plan with an orthogonal plot. A circular concrete pillar is placed in each of its nodes, and the partitions are always placed within the lines of this grid. It is therefore a perfectly isotropic porticoed structure, in which the enclosures are totally subordinated to the organisation of the framework. Construction and design problems are concentrated, as always, at the edges. To support the corridor, the perimeter pillars are deformed, hinged from a certain height to support some prefabricated slabs located at the height of the false ceiling of the interior premises. The technical building is surrounded by a light enclosure made up of glass and practicable aluminum carpentry, which accompanies the perimeter corridors on the two upper floors and, through them, provides light and views to the work premises. This closure is interrupted in all corners of the building.1989 - 1991
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Telephone Exchange in Vila Olímpica
Bach-Mora Arquitectes, Jaume Bach i Núñez, Gabriel Mora i Gramunt
The Special Plan for the Olympic Village proposes a series of door-to-door buildings, straddling the end of the Eixample and the town's own layout, next to the sea. These are unique buildings not intended for residence but for various activities, such as services. Icària Avenue becomes one of the main commercial areas of the town and has four of these unique buildings. Telefónica's head office is located at the confluence with Joan d’Àustria Street. We have proposed it as the union of two independent bodies, both functionally and aesthetically. They are connected by a bridge over the street and a common basement. The volume of the rectangular floor, practically blind, contains the telephone equipment and machinery, while the elliptical and glazed, the offices. The prismatic body is clad in stone, with a collapsed façade that recedes to get more interior space. The elliptical one is covered with corrugated aluminum sheet, adopting this geometry to achieve slimness, as it has a lower height. The junction above the street contains the communication ramps and a multipurpose rest room with mountain and sea views. The two figures create an interesting formal tension with what these symbolic buildings of the town imply, solving the heavy iconographic problem of a step, bridge or portal and offering a convenient image of a public building.1989 - 1992
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Montjuïc Telecommunications Tower
Santiago Calatrava Architects & Engineers, Santiago Calatrava i Valls
An inclined concrete shaft, with the centre of gravity at the base coinciding with the vertical result of its own weight, is supported by three points on a circular platform of reinforced concrete lined with stone, which is accessed through a 30-metre arch. The platform is closed by a sheet metal door that is driven by a hydraulic motor that, when set in motion - a rotation of 90 degrees - suggests an effect on the eyelid, something which was already experienced by Calatrava in other works. The tower is 130 metres high and is crowned by a semicircular element that houses the technical facilities and a vertical pole, a javelin suspended in the air. The inclination of the shaft coincides with the angle of the summer solstice in Barcelona, so that the shadow it casts on the circular platform forms a sundial. -
Collserola Telecommunications Tower
Foster tackles the program of a communications tower by applying the maximum of technological innovations to achieve the maximum height, the minimum diameter and, therefore, the maximum slenderness. Located 440 meters above sea level, the tower is 288 meters high, and the lookout platform is 135 meters above the ground. A single compression element, made of concrete, supports the body of the platforms for the antennas, which is only 4.50 metres in diameter. All stability weighs on a system of nine steel cables, grouped in threes, which work exclusively in tension and prevent an oscillating motion. The upper cables, which support the antenna, are made of copper fibre, which does not conduct electricity. The same requirements with more conventional means would have generated a diameter of 25 metres. Due to its position and the uniqueness of its profile, the tower has become one of the city’s landmarks.