Galfa Tower
Encyclopedia
The Galfa Building or Galfa Tower (Torre Galfa in Italian
) is a skyscraper
in Milan
, Italy
, located in the Centro Direzionale di Milano
district, north of the city centre. It was designed by architect Melchiorre Bega in 1956 and completed in 1959. The name "Galfa" is a portmanteau derived from the names of the two streets where the tower has its facades, Via Galvani and Via Fara.
The building is 109 meters and 31 floors high, with 2 more underground floors, and qualifies as the sixth highest skyscraper in Milan.
The overall design of the tower is mainly based on the International Style
architecture. The building is rectangular, with the two lowest floors larger than the main body. The main structure in reinforced concrete
is almost completely hidden by curtain wall
s made of glass and aluminium
.
The tower was originally built for the Sarom company; in the mid-1970s
, it was sold by Sarom to the Popolare di Milano
bank, and thereafter served as a service centre and headquarter of the bank. In 2006, Popolare sold the building for 48 million euros to a real estate company, which still owns it. At present, the tower needs restructuring and is not in use.
Italian language
Italian is a Romance language spoken mainly in Europe: Italy, Switzerland, San Marino, Vatican City, by minorities in Malta, Monaco, Croatia, Slovenia, France, Libya, Eritrea, and Somalia, and by immigrant communities in the Americas and Australia...
) is a skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
in Milan
Milan
Milan is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza ,...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, located in the Centro Direzionale di Milano
Centro Direzionale di Milano
The Centro Direzionale di Milano is a business district in Milan, Italy, part of the Zone 9 administrative division. It is located north-west of the city centre, between the major railway stations of Milano Centrale and Milano Porta Garibaldi...
district, north of the city centre. It was designed by architect Melchiorre Bega in 1956 and completed in 1959. The name "Galfa" is a portmanteau derived from the names of the two streets where the tower has its facades, Via Galvani and Via Fara.
The building is 109 meters and 31 floors high, with 2 more underground floors, and qualifies as the sixth highest skyscraper in Milan.
The overall design of the tower is mainly based on the International Style
International style (architecture)
The International style is a major architectural style that emerged in the 1920s and 1930s, the formative decades of Modern architecture. The term originated from the name of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson, The International Style...
architecture. The building is rectangular, with the two lowest floors larger than the main body. The main structure in reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
is almost completely hidden by curtain wall
Curtain wall
A curtain wall is an outer covering of a building in which the outer walls are non-structural, but merely keep out the weather. As the curtain wall is non-structural it can be made of a lightweight material reducing construction costs. When glass is used as the curtain wall, a great advantage is...
s made of glass and aluminium
Aluminium
Aluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
.
The tower was originally built for the Sarom company; in the mid-1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
, it was sold by Sarom to the Popolare di Milano
Banca Popolare di Milano
-History:The second cooperative bank in Italy , it was founded in 1865 in Milan by Luigi Luzzatti, who later served as the nation's Prime Minister...
bank, and thereafter served as a service centre and headquarter of the bank. In 2006, Popolare sold the building for 48 million euros to a real estate company, which still owns it. At present, the tower needs restructuring and is not in use.