Named As One Of The Ugliest Structures Ever, Torres de Colon Was Built From Top To Bottom

Madrid, Spain’s twin towers called Torres de Colon (Columbus Towers) are usually considered by many as the city’s ugliest building. In fact, it has been included in an unofficial list of distasteful buildings in the world. Despite that, one can’t deny that it is an iconic part of Madrid’s skyline since it was erected in 1976.

Specifically located in Plaza de Colon, the building looks like an electrical plug, which is why locals refer to it as “El Enchufe” or “The Plug.” Though not many people find the structure appealing, it still fascinates people because of how it was constructed– from top to bottom.

Torres de Colon stands at 116 meters and has 23 floors.

It is Madrid’s 12th tallest building and is currently valued at $116 million.

The building is home to offices of different companies and shops.

There are different websites that list Torres de Colon as one of the ugliest building in the world.

But it’s still an iconic structure because of the method of its construction.

The construction of Torres de Colon started with two central pillars that stood on concrete footings. The topmost part of the floor was positioned using steel cables. Then the rest of the floor buildings were constructed from the top to bottom. Only the three floors at the bottom, which include the basements, were constructed using the conventional top-to-bottom method.

The top-down construction method is a rather cost-efficient and time-saving method.

Choosing top-down method reduces the overall period of construction since workers can start building the floors above without having to wait for the basement to complete. This means developers can open the building much earlier.

Although it’s an unusual method, Torres de Colon is not the only building to have been built that way.

This building in Bulgaria (1977) also used top-down construction method.

This is how a residential block in Magnitogorsk, Russia was built.

And here’s how it looks today.

Do you think Torres de Colon deserves the title “ugly”? Let us know in the comments section below.