Leaning Towers of Madrid

Sometimes back I had made a post about the "Tower of Suurhusen" which is leaner than the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Even National Geographic had mentioned it as the leanest tower.

I have now found a pair of towers which have a much higher lean than the Tower of Suurhusen. The difference being that while the Leaning Tower of Pisa and Tower of Suurhusen lean due to design/constructional shortcomings, the Leaning Towers of Madrid are World's first, purposely designed and built, inclined skyscrapers. These office-cum-residential Towers were initially known as KIO Towers, as these were financed by Kuwaiti Investment Office. Because of their lean towards each other they portray a sense of a huge entrance gate hence they are now known as Puerta de Europa (Gateway to Europe). The 26-floor 114m high buildings were completed in 1996 and have a lean of 15 degrees from vertical. Compared to this Tower of Suurhusen leans at an angle of 5.19 degrees and Pisa Tower just 3.97 degrees from the vertical.

The Towers are identified as Puerta de Europa I and II. To avoid confusion, the Tower-I has a helipad painted in blue and the other in red.

Image from Flickr is by trackrecord

Image from Panoramio is by Frank Demmler

Image from Panoramio is by Marisa Gabin Naveira

The structure in the middle is the Monument to José Calvo Sotelo a Spanish political figure. His assassination was one of the causes which led to the Spanish Civil War in 1936.

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Source of Information: Spanish Wikipedia  (English Translation)

More information at emporis.com