Madrid Azca

"Asociación Mixta de Compensación de la Manzana A de la Zona Comercial de la Avenida del Generalísimo": it's easy to see why the people of Madrid have chosen the acronym AZCA to refer to the city's main business district, which officially runs along the Paseo de la Castellana between the Nuevos Ministerios buildings and the Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones, even though business extends a little further north, to the photogenic leaning towers of the Plaça de Castilla.

Planned in the 1960s, the district took shape in the 1970s to give the flagships of the Spanish economy some breathing space in a congested capital. Thirty years on, and despite the spectacular fire at the Windsor Tower in 2005, the district remains famous for its architectural stars, which have become favourite haunts for the financial and insurance sectors: the BBVA Tower, the Europe Tower and Minora Yamasaki's 157-metre Picasso Tower, which still dominates the district. These contained dimensions may make you smile at the pompous nickname of 'Madrid's Manhattan' sometimes given to AZCA, but they should not obscure the fact that it is here, in the 4.5 million square metres of office space available in the district, that the future of one of Europe's most dynamic economies is decided and, above all, financed.