The competition was organized by Puerta Triana, owner of the local bank Bank Cajasol, and will be named after the new tower, located on the islet of Cartuja on the Guadalquivir River, among the buildings of the 1992 Seville World's Fair.
The decision to build a skyscraper was not taken easily: for a long time the medieval Giralda tower (about 100 m) served as the high-rise dominant of the city. But the Sevillian authorities considered it possible to build a skyscraper almost 200 meters high at the eastern entrance to the city, since, in their opinion, it will become a landmark in the area and demonstrate the economic prosperity of Seville.
According to Pelly's project, the new tower will reach a height of 178 meters. It will have 36 floors of office space, and the four-story "podium" will house both offices and shops. Its restrained rounded shape does not oppose the historical buildings of the city, the Giralda and other bell towers of numerous Seville churches.
The façades of the tower are equipped with wooden shutters and other sun protection devices. The "podium" will receive a "green" roof, which will become a public recreational area. The street that cuts it into two parts can be covered with an awning on hot days. A restaurant and observation deck will open at the top of the tower.
It is planned to implement the project worth 250 million euros by 2010.
Architects Alejandro Zaera-Polo (FOA bureau) and Bernardo Fort-Brescia (Arcitectonica) also made it to the final of this international competition. The first proposed to build a 187-meter tower, as if composed of prisms, and the second - a skyscraper 216 meters high, reminiscent of a giant square. Although the jury named the Zaer-Polo project the most innovative from a technical point of view, and Fort Brescia was awarded for the original formal solution, Pelli's project seemed to them "the least susceptible to fashion changes" and the most economical.
