Description
The Intesa Sanpaolo Skyscraper is the glass-and-steel tower designed by Renzo Piano in the Cit Turin district, a short walk from the center. At 167.25 meters, it is the bank's headquarters and one of the most modern marks on Turin's skyline.
It is a slender tower with a mirrored façade that changes color with the sky. Six white megacolumns run through it from top to bottom, growing thinner as they rise, because higher up there is less weight to carry.
On the top floor is the bioclimatic greenhouse. Inside are 38 floors above ground, offices, an auditorium and, on the thirty-fifth floor, a restaurant with a view over the city.
Outside, in the space in front of the tower, stands the installation La Totalità by Costas Varotsos. The skyscraper rises between Corso Inghilterra, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, Via Cavalli and the Nicola Grosa garden.
Twenty-five centimeters. That is how much the tower falls short of the height of the Mole Antonelliana. It is no accident: the project, presented in 2007, called for about 200 meters, but in Turin nobody wanted to rise above the city's symbol.
Years of debate followed. There were even opposition committees, with the slogan "Let's not scratch Turin's sky", and a citywide referendum was discussed. In the end the height dropped to 167.25 meters and work began in December 2008.
Beneath the tower lies a foundation made of a single block of concrete about five meters thick: over 12,500 cubic meters, poured in just 84 hours without ever stopping.
The building is designed to use little energy. Groundwater cools it in summer, there are photovoltaic panels on the south façade, and motorized slats regulate natural light. In 2015 it earned LEED Platinum certification and in 2016 the website Archdaily named it building of the year in the offices category.
It was inaugurated on April 10, 2015, with a final cost of around 300 million euros, against the 235 originally planned.
It is a slender tower with a mirrored façade that changes color with the sky. Six white megacolumns run through it from top to bottom, growing thinner as they rise, because higher up there is less weight to carry.
On the top floor is the bioclimatic greenhouse. Inside are 38 floors above ground, offices, an auditorium and, on the thirty-fifth floor, a restaurant with a view over the city.
Outside, in the space in front of the tower, stands the installation La Totalità by Costas Varotsos. The skyscraper rises between Corso Inghilterra, Corso Vittorio Emanuele II, Via Cavalli and the Nicola Grosa garden.
Twenty-five centimeters. That is how much the tower falls short of the height of the Mole Antonelliana. It is no accident: the project, presented in 2007, called for about 200 meters, but in Turin nobody wanted to rise above the city's symbol.
Years of debate followed. There were even opposition committees, with the slogan "Let's not scratch Turin's sky", and a citywide referendum was discussed. In the end the height dropped to 167.25 meters and work began in December 2008.
Beneath the tower lies a foundation made of a single block of concrete about five meters thick: over 12,500 cubic meters, poured in just 84 hours without ever stopping.
The building is designed to use little energy. Groundwater cools it in summer, there are photovoltaic panels on the south façade, and motorized slats regulate natural light. In 2015 it earned LEED Platinum certification and in 2016 the website Archdaily named it building of the year in the offices category.
It was inaugurated on April 10, 2015, with a final cost of around 300 million euros, against the 235 originally planned.