Without a doubt, KIO Towers They are one of the best-known elements of the Madrid skyline. They make up the so-called Door of Europe, and of course they do not go unnoticed, they have a dominant position over Plaza de Castilla, they are symmetrical with respect to the axis of the Paseo de la Castellana, very tall, 115 meters, but above all, because of its architecture: two leaning towers that defy Newton.

They were commissioned by the Kuwait Investments Office, from which they took their name from KIO Towers and are the first inclined skyscraper in the world, meaning that it was built with the intention of it being inclined.

We owe the brilliant idea of ​​these towers to the first pritzker prize of history, Philip Cortelyou Johnson, disciple of Mies Van der Rohe. Johnson, along with his partner John Henry Burgee, decided to abandon the tradition of vertical skyscrapers and opt for two inclined buildings. They were based on a graphic by the radical Russian artist Alexander Rodchenko, which had an inclination of 15°, an incredible character with an intense life, a total artist, about whom I encourage you to seek more information.

Two towers of glass, granite and metal, inversely symmetrical, 115 meters high spread over 27 floors and above all their inclination with respect to the vertical. The secret of its construction is based on the fact that the majority of its weight rests on a central axis of concrete and steel that structures each one of them, while the part inclined of each of the towers is much lighter.

Its construction began in 1989, but due to successive work stoppages due to economic reasons, it was not inaugurated until 1996. They left behind controversy, corruption and lawsuits that, unfortunately, sound very common to us.
Not all of its elevators reach the top floor due to its inclination, this means that each floor has a different distribution as the elevator shaft is in a different place on each one.
Because they are symmetrically equal, it was decided to paint the 'H' of the heliports on their roof in a different color depending on the tower in order to be able to distinguish them from the sky: the tower on the left, looking from Paseo de la Castellana, is called Puerta of Europe I and is occupied by Bankia, it is blue; and the one on the right, called Puerta de Europa II, occupied by Realia, is red.

Even before they were finished, the towers served as a setting for the filming of the film The Day of the Beast, Alex de la Iglesia, who presented them as a diabolical sign, the place where the antichrist is supposed to come into the world, and you already know, Madrid is very much Madrid, Madrid is for Cinema.

Yes, I know, we haven't said anything about Box Obelisk, although in Madrid, I think we all call it the Calatrava Obelisk, the forgetfulness is intentional, 365 days in Madrid are a lot of days (we are still accepting recommendations to include in the list), so we will save it for another one of them, since despite its short history, in time, it is a lot What needs to be said about that work.

A abrazo.