The Gate of Europe towers ( es, Puerta de Europa, - Door of Europe-), also known as KIO Towers (''Torres KIO''), are twin office buildings near the

Plaza de Castilla The Plaza de Castilla ( en, "Castile Square") is a roundabout in the north of Madrid, Spain. Location It is located in the north of the city and is bisected by Paseo de la Castellana, one of the main thoroughfares of the capital, almost at its ...

Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...

, Spain. The towers have a height of and have 26 floors. They were constructed from 1989 to

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 800, causing the plane to crash and killing everyone o ...

. The Puerta de Europa is the second tallest twin towers in Spain after the

Torres de Santa Cruz The Torres de Santa Cruz is a residential complex composed of the twin towers located in the city of Santa Cruz de Tenerife ( Canary Islands, Spain). They were designed by Canarian architect Julian Valladares, and were built in the period 200 ...

Santa Cruz de Tenerife Santa Cruz de Tenerife, commonly abbreviated as Santa Cruz (), is a city, the capital of the island of Tenerife, Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, and capital of the Canary Islands. Santa Cruz has a population of 206,593 (2013) within its ad ...

. The Gate of Europe towers were designed by the American architects

Philip Johnson Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July 8, 1906 – January 25, 2005) was an American architect best known for his works of modern and postmodern architecture. Among his best-known designs are his modernist Glass House in New Canaan, Connecticut; the po ...

and

John Burgee __NOTOC__ John Burgee (born August 28, 1933) is an American architect noted for his contributions to Postmodern architecture. He was a partner of Philip Johnson from 1967 to 1991, creating together the partnership firm Johnson/Burgee Architect ...

, built by Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas and commissioned by the Kuwait Investment Office (hence their initial name "''Torres KIO''" or "KIO Towers"). Leslie E. Robertson Associates, RLLP New York (LERA) provided structural engineering services. Each building is 115 m tall with an inclination of 15°, making them the first inclined skyscrapers in the world. They are located near the Chamartín

railway station Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in Track (rail transport), tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the ...

, on the sides of the

bus station, north from the

Paseo de la Castellana Paseo de la Castellana, commonly known as La Castellana, is a major thoroughfare in Madrid, Spain. Cutting across the city from South to North, it has been described as the "true structuring axis" of the city. History and description The street ...

and near the

Cuatro Torres Business Area Área de negocios de Cuatro Torres (ANCA or CTBA), Spanish for "Four Towers Business Area", is a business district located in the Paseo de la Castellana in Madrid, Spain, on the former Ciudad Deportiva of Real Madrid. The area contains the fou ...

(CTBA). After the receivership of Grupo Torras, KIO had to sell the buildings, which are now owned by

CaixaBank CaixaBank, S.A. (), formerly Criteria CaixaCorp, is a Spanish multinational financial services company. CaixaBank is based in Valencia, with operative offices in Madrid and Barcelona, Spain. It is Spain's third-largest lender by market value, ...

and Realia. The west tower has a rooftop

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribu ...

pad outlined in blue; the east tower has a red one.

In popular culture

The towers played a key role in the 1995 movie '' The Day of the Beast'', the climax of which took place on one of the then nearly-completed towers. The towers were also shot in the song sequence "oru koodai sunlight" in the popular

Tamil Tamil may refer to: * Tamils, an ethnic group native to India and some other parts of Asia ** Sri Lankan Tamils, Tamil people native to Sri Lanka also called ilankai tamils **Tamil Malaysians, Tamil people native to Malaysia * Tamil language, na ...

film '' Sivaji''. They are also seen in an episode of

Mickey and the Roadster Racers ''Mickey Mouse Mixed-Up Adventures'' is an American CGI-animated preschool television series that was broadcast on Disney Junior. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series is the successor to '' Mickey Mouse Clubhouse''. Originally a ...

. The racers must collect a flag from the top of the towers in 'Running of the Roadsters' (episode 5b).

References

External links

{{commons category, Puerta de Europa, Madrid, Puerta de Europa
Computer generated image of the Golden Top Crown of the Fuente de Europa''dudas''
Towers completed in 1996 Skyscraper office buildings in Madrid Philip Johnson buildings Inclined buildings John Burgee buildings Postmodern architecture Twin towers Buildings and structures in Tetuán District, Madrid Buildings and structures in Chamartín District, Madrid

In popular culture

See also

References

External links