Architect: Alfredo Andia, Cristian Gomes, Jaime Fontana, Ignacio Barandan

Engineers: Ignacio Barandan, Andrew Jackson, Amin Wolsky, Rogers Howkins; OVERUP Partners Ca, USA

Colavorative: Alex Ponce FL USA, Alfredo Iturriaga Uniacc-Chile, Gregorio Vasquez Uniacc-Chile

A gesture that is at the height of Latin American architecture with the highest slenderness ratio in the world as regards dynamism and shape; with innovation, the modernism and efficiency of its structure of a natural and transparent openness and the clear symbolism of an expression of the values and yearning that underpin it.

The conquest of verticality sustained only by its height represents one of the paradigms and challenges that gained ground in 20 th century architecture, whilst in this new century that is just beginning, the new paradigm to be conquered will undoubtedly be slenderness.

Buildings with their traditional structures such as the Twin Towers were only able to reach a slenderness ratio of 1:5 – 1:6. Nouvel, with his endless tower 460 meters high, albeit not the highest, at the onset of the nineties, was able to carry verticality in architecture to an outer limit of 1:10. At that time, the engineers from Nouvel mentioned that the solutions applied to the tower would represent the first step in more sophisticated applications that would enable buildings to reach a slenderness of 1:15 or even 1:20.

Our proposal with its efficient structure on an elliptical base and inserted within a dramatically narrow piece of land, picks up this challenge with its 231 meters in height – only its main body, so excluding its antenna – has now become the highest in Latin America and the most slender in the world with a ratio of 1:12 – 1:19. Including its antenna that is 85 meters long, the BICENTENARY TOWER rises to a height of 316 meters.

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