Atlántico and Océano Buildings

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1968-1972 · Authors: Javier Díaz-Llanos, Vicente Saavedra

These two adjoining buildings designed by architects Javier Díaz-Llanos and Vicente Saavedra, with the collaboration of José Félix Sáenz-Marrero, form a long complex that closes the wall of buildings erected along the seafront of Avenida de Anaga. 

Despite their large size, the appearance of these constructions is varied and dynamic, given the different treatment observed in their various sections. The ground floor, with commercial premises and offices, is characterised by a powerful base of horizontal layers where the wood covering the openings is combined with brick panels. The intermediate section is an open floor on pillars that serves as parking and is accessed from the rear street. The third and top section develops over nine floors where the façades are made of prefabricated concrete panels with carefully finished surfaces.

On the main façade, facing the sea, the continuous balconies with orange awnings stand out, giving the building a relaxed tone. On the opposite, rear façade, some openings are closed with sliding wooden shutters, while the solanas are closed with concrete latticework. In this same area, where the plot narrows, the plane begins to step back until reaching the corner, where in an imposing chamfer wide bay windows open. 

Inside, five stairwells provide access to two flats per landing with rational floor plans, without an interior courtyard, as they are open to both façades.          

The Atlántico building, designed in 1965 and now annexed to Usos Múltiples I, was completed in 1968; the Océano, designed in the same year as a continuation of the previous construction, was finished in 1972.

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