El País reports that the Colón Towers, two high-rise buildings in the vicinity of Madrid’s Plaza de Colón and Biblioteca Nacional, may soon become listed. Designed by Antonio Lamela (December 1, 1926–April 1, 2017), the towers’ suspended structure was innovative at the time of their construction, between 1967 and 1976. In the 1990s new fire regulations resulted in the construction of an art nouveau roof, known as ‘el enchufe’ (‘the plug’), which links the towers and provides access to an emergency staircase.
According to the Asociación para la Protección de las Torres Colón, which is campaigning for the recognition of the towers’ architectural importance, ‘su valor arquitectónico, del que su sistema estructural es parte indiscutible y esencial, además de su proyección nacional e internacional, merece ser reconocido como parte del patrimonio arquitectónico madrileño.’
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