Vasco da Gama Tower

The Vasco da Gama Tower (Portuguese: "Torre Vasco da Gama", pron. IPA2|'toʁ(ɨ) 'vaʃku dɐ 'gɐmɐ) is a 145 m/476 ft-high lattice tower in Lisbon, Portugal, built over the Tagus river. It is named after Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who was the first European to arrive in India by sail, in 1498.

The architecture of the tower was by Leonor Janeiro, Nick Jacobs and SOM. The steel structure, representing the sail of a caravel, was assembled by engineering company Martifer.

The tower was built in 1998 for the Expo 98 World's Fair. At the 120 m/394 ft-level, there was an observation deck and, just below it, a luxury panoramic restaurant. At the base of the tower was a three-storey building that served as the European Union Pavilion during the expo.

Both the observation deck and the restaurant were closed in October 2004. While they were open, the tower was the tallest structure in Portugal open to the public (excluding bridges).

The base building was to be leased for office space after the closing of the expo, but never found tenants. Instead, it was used for one-off events, like the world premiere of the new MINI car in 2001. In 2006 the tower was climbed by Alain Robert, a solo urban climber. He was sponsored by Optimus, a Portuguese mobile phone company, that used the climb as part of a marketing campaign for a recently released product.

Future hotel

Parque Expo received permission for a plan by Portuguese architect Nuno Leónidas to expand on the riverside, for a luxury hotel with 178 rooms in 20 floors. [ [http://www.factoriaurbana.com/ciudades/torres.php?id=4&ciudadd=Lisboa Factoría Urbana: Ciudades y arquitectura] ]

The base building was demolished from July to September 2007, and construction of the hotel started in October 2007. [ [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sT7RCi2-h8s Video of the base building being demolished, and preview of future hotel.] ]

The hotel will be called "Sana Torre Vasco da Gama Royal Hotel", managed by Portuguese company Sana Hotels. [ [http://www.sanahotels.com/gca/index.php?hotelId=285&id=380 www.sanahotels.com] ] The observation deck and the panoramic restaurant will still be accessible through the three current panoramic elevators.

References

ee also

* List of towers

External links

*
* [http://www.factoriaurbana.com/ciudades/torres.php?id=4&ciudad=Torre%20Vasco%20da%20Gama&ciudadd=Lisboa Vasco da Gama Tower at Factoría Urbana: Photos and technical information (Spanish)]