The Isozaki Atea ( eu, Isozaki Gate) twin towers in

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

are the tallest residential buildings in the city and the Basque Country, designed by Japanese architect

Arata Isozaki Arata Isozaki (磯崎新, ''Isozaki Arata''; born 23 July 1931) is a Japanese architect, urban designer, and theorist from Ōita. He was awarded the RIBA Gold Medal in 1986 and the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2019. Biography Isozaki was ...

. The towers are tall and have 23

floor A floor is the bottom surface of a room or vehicle. Floors vary from simple dirt in a cave to many layered surfaces made with modern technology. Floors may be stone, wood, bamboo, metal or any other material that can support the expected load ...

s. The first two floors are used for mixed-commercial purposes, and the remaining floors are residential. The towers are part of a five-building complex. The other three buildings' heights range between six and eight floors. "Atea" means "gate" in

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

; the complex is intended as the entrance to the ''

Ensanche means "widening" in Spanish. It is used to name the development areas of Spanish cities around the end of the 19th century, when the demographic explosion and the Industrial Revolution prompted the tearing down of the old city wall and the const ...

'' of the city from the other side of the

Nervión , name_etymology = , image = Nervion.jpg , image_size = 300px , image_caption = River Nervion with Zubizuri footbridge. , map = , map_size = , map_caption = , pushpin_map ...

river as a footway directly connects the staircase between the two towers to the

Zubizuri The Zubizuri (Basque for "''white bridge''"), also called the Campo Volantin Bridge or Puente del Campo Volantin, is a tied arch footbridge across the Nervion River in Bilbao, Spain. Designed by architect Santiago Calatrava, the bridge links th ...

footbridge. The staircase leads to Ercilla Street.

External links

Emporis.com

"Isozaki Atea"
on ''Architecture News Plus'' Buildings and structures in Bilbao Twin towers Skyscrapers in Bilbao Residential skyscrapers in Spain Estuary of Bilbao {{Spain-struct-stub