Torre Telefónica Chile (

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

for Telephone Tower Chile) formerly known as Edificio CTC is a office skyscraper in the Providencia district of

Santiago Santiago (, ; ), also known as Santiago de Chile (), is the capital and largest city of Chile and one of the largest cities in the Americas. It is located in the country's central valley and is the center of the Santiago Metropolitan Regi ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

. Built between 1993 and 1996, the tower stands at tall with 34 floors and is the current 3rd tallest building in Chile.

History

With 143 meters in height and 34 floors, the building previously held the title of the tallest in

between 1996 and 1999 when it was surpassed by the Marriott Hotel Santiago de Chile. It is also considered (like the Entel Tower) an architectural landmark in the city, due to its modern architecture and strategic location, highlighting the visual and urban axis that represents the Bustamante Park between the communes of Providencia and Santiago. Its design represents a mobile phone from the 1990s, a current form of telecommunications.

Architecture

The Iglesis Prat Arquitectos office won the competition for the tower's future design in 1992. The complex comprises three buildings: the main tower, the twin building and a smaller one located on Avenida Bustamante.

Main tower and twin building

It is 143 metres high up to the spiral and 132 metres high to the top floor. It has 32 floors and a helipad on level 35, making it visible from a large part of the capital. Inside it has eight programmable elevators with a capacity for 23 people each. Four are high-speed and reach a maximum advance of 6.3 metres per second. In addition, this tower has a surface area of 63,000 square metres, is capable of housing 2,100 people in their respective work stations on open floors and a digital telephone exchange with a capacity of 3,000 lines served. Attached to the Main Tower, it retains the same façade as the latter, but is only 9 stories high. On its first floor, it houses conference rooms that look out onto the atrium of the Bustamante Building, as well as a customer service point and the exhibition hall of the Telefónica Foundation called Espacio ; both are accessible from the east end of the building facing Avenida Providencia.

Bustamante building

Its entrance, unlike the rest of the building, is on Avenida General Bustamante, making it almost invisible to passersby and often mistaken for a separate building. The five floors house mostly the Movistar business area. It is separated from the complex by an interior atrium that houses the Telecommunications Museum, a second exhibition hall and the company's auditorium, with capacity for 300 people. At its recently remodeled entrance, public access gardens and a branch of the Starbucks coffee shop were installed .

Popular culture

Impact

Open television channels have made numerous reports from its

heliport A heliport is a small airport which has a helipad, suitable for use by helicopters, powered lift, and various types of vertical lift aircraft. Designated heliports typically contain one or more touchdown and liftoff areas and may also hav ...

, using as scenery the panoramic views of the city of Santiago that can be obtained from there; the most emblematic case was the television program Plaza Italia on Channel 2 Rock & Pop, which in its credits showed a nocturnal Santiago looking west, where the

Plaza Baquedano Plaza Baquedano, commonly known as Plaza Italia, is a major landmark in Santiago, Chile. The plaza was inaugurated in 1928, being crowned by a monument made by Chilean sculptor Virgínio Arias and featuring General Manuel Baquedano, giving th ...

is located. For several years, in addition, a robotic camera installed on the building's mast provided Chilean networks with a 360° panoramic view of the city. The helipad has also served as a location for the music videos for ''"Bolsa De Mareo"'' by

Los Tres Los Tres is a Chilean rock band, formed in 1987 in Concepción, Chile, Concepción by Álvaro Henríquez, Roberto "Titae" Lindl, Francisco Molina and Ángel Parra Jr. They are one of the most influential rock en español bands. History The ...

(1997) and ''"I Wanna Give My Heart"'' by

Denise Rosenthal Denise Sofía Rosenthal Schalchli (born 8 November 1990), known professionally as Denise Rosenthal is a Chilean singer and songwriter. Early life Rosenthal was born in Santiago, Chile. She has two brothers, one sister, and is the youngest of fo ...

(2011). In July 2011, the Wallpeople project was carried out in a space 50 metres long by 2.2 metres high on the western wall of the Telefónica building, where anyone could stick a personal photograph of a happy moment with adhesive tape, and take one of another person, while paintings and live music were on display. In August 2019, Movistar officially announced the sale of the building, citing cost-saving reasons and the advancement of teleworking among its employees. 6 However, it ruled out completely emptying it for the moment. Since the beginning of the protests in October 2019, and because Plaza Baquedano is the nerve center of the demonstrations, the entire area around the building and its entrances were fenced with iron plates.

Reviews

On July 12, 2016, the technology site Tech Insider published a critique of its architecture, calling it an outdated design and a "shameful monstrosity" because its structure resembles a 1990s cell phone, with an antenna on its side, this despite the fact that at the time of its inauguration this design was then the latest in mobile telephony, and therefore, its evocation was intended to symbolize innovation and technological avant-garde.

References

External links

Torre Telefónica Chile
at

CTBUH The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat (CTBUH) is an international body in the field of tall buildings, including skyscrapers, and sustainable urban design. A non-profit organization based at the Monroe Building in Chicago, Illinois, U ...

Torre Telefónica Santiago
at

SkyscraperPage SkyscraperPage is a website for skyscraper hobbyists and enthusiasts that tracks existing and proposed skyscrapers around the world. The site is owned by Skyscraper Source Media, a supplier of skyscraper diagrams for the publication, marketing, an ...

Torre Telefónica Santiago
at SKYDB {{Portal bar, Architecture, Chile Skyscrapers in Chile Buildings and structures in Santiago, Chile Buildings and structures completed in 1996 Office buildings in Chile Office buildings completed in 1996 1996 establishments in Chile High-tech architecture Architecture in Chile