The Skyscraper Intempoin the city of Benidorm in Costa Blanca, holds the record of tallest residential building in Spain and, with his 192 meters high, one of the highest in Europe. The design of the structure is one of a kind thanks to two towers joined by a cone structure, reminiscent of a diamond and the letter “M“. A construction that was initially conceived to become a true symbol of the growth of the Spanish real estate market, but over the years it has become, more than anything, the symbol of its failure. Born with the idea of creating a luxury resort, the works for its construction were blocked due to the economic crisis of 2008, only to be finished several years later, in 2021, thanks to the American company SVP Global. The building is spread over 47 floors and the prices of the luxury apartments range from €400,000 to over 2 million. L’Intempo is the 5th Spain’s tallest skyscraper behind Crystal Tower (249m), Cepsa Tower (248.3 m), PwC Tower (236 m) e Espacio Tower (230 m) all located in Madrid.
What the 47-storey skyscraper in Benidorm looks like
The Intempo skyscraper matters 47 floors, that develop for 192 meters high. The design consists of two symmetrical towers which, at the top, are joined by an inverted conical-shaped structure. This last part of the structure recalls, to all intents and purposes, the typical shape and lines of a diamond. The project was conceived as a luxury residential resort, under the name of Sky Resort, within which they find space 256 very luxurious apartments.
The luxury of the building is confirmed by the presence of a whole series of services, such as a huge swimming pool on the ground floor, and various SPAs and similar services between the 46th and 47th floors.
From “skeleton in the sky” to millionaire resort: a rebirth that lasted 14 years
The history of this imposing skyscraper was troubled right from the start. Work began in 2007, the following year Europe was hit by the economic crisis. The construction companies therefore found themselves managing the enormous construction site essentially without financing. The works were blocked and the skyscraper was nicknamed “skeleton in the sky“: to indicate how the work remained unfinished.
Things changed in 2018, when an American company, the SVP Global, bought the skyscraper. The Americans decided to invest in this structure, and give it the function for which it was initially conceived: luxury resort.
The skyscraper was finished in 2021 hey prices of the apartments inside vary from a minimum of 400,000 euros to even get to the 2 million and beyond.
The sizing error of elevators
Initially the skyscraper was conceived with a series of internal elevators capable of serving a large number of internal housing units which, as mentioned in the previous paragraph, amounted to 270 apartments. When in the 2018 the skyscraper was taken over, it was decided to profoundly modify especially the apartments on the higher floors. This, in particular, meant that there were more real estate units mergedto form more spacious apartments.
This change resulted in a real sizing error by the designers who did not calculate the need to install high-speed elevators to still serve a clientele willing to spend hundreds of thousands of euros for an apartment in this skyscraper. In particular, the error was due to the fact that i vain elevator they had been sized for normal, standard elevators, like the ones we use every day but, in reality, the high-speed elevators they required spaces with certainly larger geometries.
SVP Global solved the problem by asking the designers to reconceive, practically from scratch, the vertical transport system within the structure. They installed it like this 6 high-speed elevatorscapable of reaching even i 4.2 meters per second.
