Torre Agbar

Lonely Planet review

Barcelona's very own cucumber-shaped tower, Jean Nouvel's luminous Torre Agbar (the headquarters of the city water company) is the most daring addition to Barcelona's skyline since the first towers of La Sagrada Família went up. Completed in 2005, it shimmers in shades of midnight blue and lipstick red, especially at night. You can wander into the foyer.

Although some feel it is less adventurous than Sir Norman Foster's daring Swiss Re Tower in London (Nouvel was furious that height restrictions were placed on his Barcelona baby), it stands out all the more since it has no equally tall competition nearby. The town fathers hope that, between this, the 22@bcn project and the Fòrum 2004 shenanigans, the whole El Poblenou area (not to mention the dusty, pompously named Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes roundabout) can be lifted from decades of numbing neglect.