The El Faro Towers is a complex of two, twin interconnected towers located in the neighbourhood of Puerto Madero

Puerto Madero

Puerto Madero, also known within the urban planning community as the Puerto Madero Waterfront, is a barrio of the Argentine capital at Buenos Aires CBD, occupying a significant portion of the Río de la Plata riverbank and representing the latest architectural trends in the city of Buenos...

, Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...

, Argentina

Argentina

Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...

.

Structure

They have a total height of 160 m (524.9 ft) and an area of 57190 square metre. The development houses 160 apartments, outdoor pool, spa, sauna, gym, two underground parking structures for owners and guests, and other ancillary facilities.

Concept and construction

The Lighthouse (Faro) project was first proposed in 1999, and coincided with a burgeoning interest in redeveloping the dilapidated Puerto Madero docklands on the part of developers. The project was initially designed to include two towers of 170 meters (590 ft) each, with 48 floors distributed among them. The towers were to be connected by several aerial bridges at four levels. The development was approved in late 2000, and the construction of Tower 1 began in 2001.

Tower 1 was completed construction in 2003, and all units therein were sold by the time work started on tower two. While there were several alternative proposals from groups dedicated to the protection of the nearby Buenos Aires Ecological Reserve

Buenos Aires Ecological Reserve

Buenos Aires Ecological Reserve, Reserva Ecológica de Buenos Aires, also known as Costanera Sur Ecological Reserve, Reserva Ecológica Costenera Sur, is a tract of low land on the Río de la Plata riverbank located on the east side of the district of Puerto Madero in Buenos Aires CBD,...

, objections were also raised over the prior substitution of Act 123 for Act 452, which would have permitted a lesser degree of environmental impact for the project's approval. Tower 2 was completed in early 2005 and promptly sold out, thus concluding the project. These became the highest in Buenos Aires and Argentina, though the structures were narrowly surpassed in height by the nearby Mulieris towers

Mulieris towers

Torres Mulieris are two towers of 44 floors each. They are located in the Puerto Madero neighborhood in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Developed by Creaurban, a unit of the Macri Group, the two residential buildings were completed in 2009, and became the fifth-tallest buildings in Argentina....

 and the Repsol-YPF tower

Repsol-YPF tower

The Repsol-YPF tower is a corporate high-rise building designed by internationally recognized architect César Pelli constructed in the Puerto Madero barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Construction began in 2005, and the office building was completed in September 2008. The building is tall and...

 (both in Puerto Madero) upon these latter's compilation in 2008 (they were, in turn, surpassed by Torre Cavia, part of the Le Parc Figueroa Alcorta

Le Parc Figueroa Alcorta

Le Parc Figueroa Alcorta is a residential complex comprised by the Alcorta and Cavia towers. The tallest one is 173m tall, and the Alcorta tower is 120m tall....

 complex, in 2009).

Façade and engineering was provided by Obras Metálicas S. A.