Gran Torre Santiago

Brief information

Gran Torre Santiago did not rise as a standalone showcase tower, but as the tallest part of the large Costanera Center complex. It includes a shopping center, two hotels, and two additional office buildings, so the skyscraper should be understood as the vertical extension of a multifunctional hub, rather than as a solitary high-rise marker on the map of Santiago.

The tower reached 300 meters and 64 floors, becoming the tallest building in Latin America. Its construction began in 2006, then stopped during the global financial crisis and resumed at the end of 2009. This pause is important not in itself: it explains why the building looks like a project of great economic scale that was brought to completion after an interruption.

What to notice right away

It makes sense to compare three levels of scale: the tower’s 300-meter height, its 64 above-ground floors, and six underground floors. These numbers show that the building is organized not only upward, but also downward, and that height here is connected with a large internal area, not only with the silhouette.

One particular detail is the 4.1-meter floor height. It helps the facade read as a grid of large office levels, rather than simply as a dense set of windows. Another focus is the Sky Costanera observation deck on the 61st and 62nd floors: almost the top of the tower is turned into a place for viewing Santiago. This makes the building’s functional scheme visible: below, it is connected with the Costanera Center complex; higher up, it works as an office tower; and near the top, it gains a public observation point.