Hotel Porta Fira, built by FCC, has won the prestigious 2010 Emporis Skyscraper Award, competing with three hundred buildings all over the world, some of them emblematic constructions like the Burj Khlifa tower in Dubai -currently the world's highest building-, which came second.

The Emporis Skyscraper Awards are the only worldwide architectural prizes for tall buildings. The jury that awards the prize comprises experts in architecture from 67 countries. Past winners include architects of the stature of Santiago Calatrava for the Turning Torso tower in Malmö (Sweden) and Norman Foster for the St. Mary Axe tower in London (United Kingdom).

Hotel Porta Fira is the work of the Japanese architect, Toyo Ito, and the Spanish studio, b720 Arquitectos, headed by Fermín Vázquez. It is located in one of Barcelona's key development areas and is 113 metres high with 26 floors. The hotel is owned by the Hoteles Santos chain, a leader in its industry.

As Fermín Vázquez explains, the greatest challenge of the tower was its organic shape: the unique and extraordinarily striking façade is formed by a tubular aluminium structure that runs around the outside of the building in continuous lines from the ground right up to the top. An eye-catching red, the tower is immediately visible from a distance, and its complex geometry grows, twists and spreads as the edifice rises.

Diagonal Zero Zero Tower also among the 10 best skyscrapers of 2010

The Diagonal Zero Zero Tower, also in Barcelona, also came in strongly in the award (ninth). Also built by FCC, the creators of the design were Enric Massip-Bosch's Taller de Arquitectura EMBA, and it will house Telefónica's new Barcelona head offices.

The Zero Zero tower has a rhomboidal floor plan and is 110 m high with 23 floors. It had already won awards such as the Quantrium Prize for the best design of 2010.