Woermann Tower & Square

The area of El Istmo is one of the most sensitive places in Las Palmas, a narrow neck that connects the continuous urban mass of the city with the empty peninsula of La Isleta. Its character is unique as a crossing zone as well as a place to stroll or simply to be. The brief specified singularity in the iconography of the object and in the void, as a contrast to the mass occupation of space: a single, autonomous, self-referring object accessible from all sides to attract public activity and generate centrality. It was also required to become integrated with its surroundings: continuity with the urban tissue and with existing buildings and volumetric and scenographic coherence. The programme consists basically of dwellings and offices, though it embraces complementary public uses such as a library and other facilities. The idea was to further singularise the area with the project by proposing an extensive and intensive urban support, namely the recreation of the public plaza through application of a striking, eye-catching superficial treatment, visible and accessible from all sides. The resulting space is delimited by two urban objects, each with its own highly differentiated character: a tall, striking apartment tower, the true protagonist of the project, and a more compact office building which, standing on the opposite side, closes and reinforces the urban consistency of the plaza, whose surface will be transformed into an urban-scale plastic action thanks to the drawing by the artist Albert Ohelen.The project contemplates large arcaded areas that will provide artificial shade for pedestrians, while natural shade will be supplied by medium-sized and tall trees planted on the western and eastern boundaries of the plaza. The tower apartment ceilings are generously high, akin to their traditional counterparts, so that the dwellings enjoy views as if from a natural vantage point.