Torre Telefónica Chile, High-tech skyscraper in Providencia, Chile

Torre Telefónica Chile is a 143-metre skyscraper in Providencia, Santiago, whose blue-tinted glass curtain wall is crossed by a diamond grid of diagonal mullions. A pale grey vertical band with small square windows runs along its right edge, and a dark diagonal cross-bracing band interrupts the glass on the left face about two-thirds up. Lower grey and white volumes with horizontal window strips sit at its base.

Construction began in 1993 and finished in 1996, supported by a 75 million dollar investment from the Chilean telecommunications company. The project emerged during a period of rapid infrastructure modernization in the country.

The tower's silhouette was drawn to resemble a 1990s mobile phone, with a mast on its side standing in for the antenna; at its 1996 opening this was the newest form of the device. The heliport on level 35 has hosted TV broadcasts and music videos, including Los Tres's "Bolsa de Mareo" (1997) and Illapu's "Ojos de niño".

The tower is an operating corporate headquarters, not a public attraction, so the heliport and upper floors are not open to visitors. The ground-level Espacio exhibition hall of the Fundación Telefónica and the customer service point in the nine-storey twin building are reached from the east end facing Avenida Providencia. The Telecommunications Museum sits in the interior atrium off Avenida General Bustamante.

The adjoining nine-story twin building houses a public library and a Living Lab where new technologies are tested in real conditions. This space allows visitors to witness experimental projects firsthand.