Castellana 77

Description of the project

In the heart of Madrid’s financial centre, in the AZCA district, stands Castellana 77, a building which, after two decades out of service, has begun a new iconic life thanks to luis vidal +arquitectos. The original 1977 tower is now a 62-metre-high office building, defining the skyline of the city in its own special way.

With completion of the restoration, the building is a leader in terms of energy efficiency and environmental profile and has received the prestigious LEED Platinum certification. Guardian Glass high performance glass products for the façade contributed directly to achieving this LEED certification.

Clever use of natural light and the desire to create a strong identity for the building to stand out in its environment were two of the essential pillars for the architectural project. According to Luis Vidal: “The goal was to update the building, resulting in a new property that is both flexible and sustainable, while creating high quality commercial space with a new image incorporated into the skyline of Madrid, a city which respects its roots, but is still forward-looking.”

This has been achieved with an integral restoration, primarily focused on building a new façade with a sharp vertical modulation that utilises Guardian SunGuard® SN 70/41 coated glass in a high selectivity glazed curtain wall.

This modern, inspiring construction system also incorporates an added feature that provides extra solar protection by using fins with a 60cm overhang to provide shade (separated from the main façade by a 15cm gap for maintenance and cleaning). These work in conjunction with Guardian glass to further improve the general performance of the building.

Over a total area of 21,000m2, architecture and construction works also included the upgrade of all the facilities in Castellana 77, as well as the transformation of its 18 floors above ground (16,261m2 in total), making the ground floor layout more flexible. The ground floor can hold both offices and commercial space. The original four storeys used for parking have been regenerated, as well as an additional floor for general building facilities. The five underground floors now hold over 200 parking spaces.