The Conference will be held in one of the buildings of Telefónica, the Spanish worldwide telecom operator, in Gran Vía 28, in the city centre of Madrid.

This Telefónica building was the headquarters of the company since 1929 until 2006. It represents an emblematic building of Madrid's architecture.

It was designed by the Spanish architect Ignacio de Cárdenas in 1925 using innovative metal structure techniques. It was built from 1926 to 1929 and was considered as an architectural icon in those days. Measuring 89.30 metres, it was Europe's first skyscraper and the tallest building in the city from 1929 to 1953, when it was overtaken by the Edificio España. The building was based on an architectural project designed by the North American one Lewis S. Weeks, emulating skyscrapers in New York.

This building has played a major role in difficult times, such as the Spanish Civil War from 1936 to 1939, and in those periods that have involved progress. During these two stages, the building has represented a symbol of modernity in the very heart of the city.

It currently houses an avant-garde style shop, a telephone switch and the headquarters of Fundación Telefónica.

If you want to know more about the history of this building, you can visit the place that Telefónica Foundation has prepared to commemorate the 80th anniversary of this building http://granvia.fundacion.telefonica.com/

The year 2010 marks the 100th anniversary of Gran Vía Avenue, one of the most famous avenues in Madrid. During the whole year there will be an endless number of activities to commemorate this historical date.

It was on April 4th 1910, when the King Alfonso XIII (grandfather of King of Spain Juan Carlos I of Borbón) fired the starting pistol for the construction of the road. Municipal architects José López Sallaberry and Francisco Octavio Palacios designed the avenue.

Downtown Madrid at the time was impenetrable, and the intention was to open it up to the rest of the city. Builders got rid of 14 streets, knocked down 50 blocks and 331 houses in what turned into a major construction project that took 21 years.
The Gran Via's birth was a sign of modernity that slowly gained ground in Madrid. The first telephone booths were built on its sidewalks, as were the first shopping centers and automobile dealers.

In 100 years the Gran Via, measuring 1,316 meters, from Alcala Street to the Plaza de España, became a mirror for the history and change in a city that went from 600,000 inhabitants in 1910 to more than 3.2 million (six million including the metropolitan area) today.

To find more about it you can visit this guide