Architects like César Pelli, Arata Isozaki, Ãlvaro Siza or Robert Stern have created iconic buildings in Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles, Lisbon or Disney World. Infrastructures on the five continents are considered gigantic sculptures thanks to Norman Foster or Santiago Calatrava. And the imaginative designs of Philippe Starck or Javier Mariscal enrich the most innovative buildings on the planet. Well, all these names, together with other famous firms, coexist in Bilbao.
Up to seven Pritzker Prize-winning architects have works in the Biscayan capital or their projects are under development. This is the case of the Anboto Dorrea by the British Richard Rodgers or the conversion of Zorratzaurre Island planned by the Anglo-Iraqi Zaha Hadid. By the way, the end of this performance in the middle of the Nervión estuary will mark a turning point in the change that Bilbao began a little over a quarter of a century ago, coincidentally also on the banks of the estuary.
In 1997, the dynamic curve of the Euskalduna bridge was inaugurated, devised by Javier Manterola, one of the most prestigious Spanish engineers when it comes to tackling this type of work. Naming the bridge like this was not accidental, since it evoked the shipyards that were in the area. Industries that were the economic spearhead, but that at the gates of the 21st century were grey, abandoned and dangerous ruins that had to be recovered.
As part of this rescue, the opportunity arose to bring a museum to Bilbao with the seal of popularity that the name Guggenheim implies. A risky bet and in need of a considerable amount of money. Boldness and investment that multiplied with the design of the architect Frank Gehry for the building. Today it is a world reference, of architecture and of any creative discipline, but then it was a very bold move.
The chronicles of the time mention controversy and opposition to the project. Although there were also defenders. But not even the staunchest supporters intuited the impact of that shapeless titanium building. Today the image of Bilbao and the Basque Country is the Guggenheim reflecting light on its impossible facades, surrounded by sculptures by Anish Kapoor, Jeff Koons or Louise Bourgeois, with the estuary at its side and the Salve Bridge in the background.
No one thought of the number of visitors or talent that this stamp would attract. Only the most visionary imagined it. And when mentioning architecture, talent and visions, Norman Foster emerges, who at that time was already devising his personal metro entrances for the Basque city that simulate postmodern access to a cave. Glass and metal vaults known as fosteritos, clear proof that the name of the English architect is naturally linked to a Bilbao conceived as a mecca of current design.
From there hatched more proposals. An especially brutal facelift near the epicenter of this creative earthquake, the Guggenheim Museum. However, there has been a curious effect since it seems that great world architects have made a non-aggression pact with Gehry’s stranded ship. Instead of competing, top-level firms choose to enrich themselves by their side.
They are buildings that add up, without giving up their personality. It happens with the 165 meters of glass that the Argentine César Pelli developed to raise the tallest building in Euskadi in the Iberdrola tower. The impeccable geometry of the auditorium of the UPV/EHU drawn by the Portuguese Ãlvaro Siza also adds modernity. Just as charm flourishes with the work of landscape designer Diana Balmori in the Campa de los Ingleses. And the same spirit of enhancing the ensemble radiates the glazed reflections of the Deusto library designed by Moneo.
A renewal earthquake with shock waves upstream and downstream of the estuary. If you go up the Nervión towards the historic center, the Isozaki towers soon cast their shadows, two twin blocks that the Japanese architect conceived as a link between the Ensanche and the riverside promenade. While going in the direction of the sea, you arrive at the Euskalduna Palace of Congresses and Music, one of the first constructions that joined the avant-garde construction effervescence.
New bridges have also been built over the estuary itself. If the first was the Euskalduna bridge, then others have arisen. Calatrava’s Zubizuri, as colorful as it is controversial. And also the Pedro Arrupe footbridge, much more emphatic to link Deusto with the Abandoibarra area.
However, the aesthetic renovation reaches far from the estuary. It is discovered a step away from the Plaza de Moyúa, on Calle Diputación where words can be read in dozens of languages ​​thanks to the serigraphs on the windows that protect the interior of the Provincial Library. And once again, glass and steel are the stars of the prisms created by the architect Juan Coll-Barreu for the dynamic façades of the Basque Health Department in the central Alameda de Rekalde.
Nearby is the Alhóndiga or Azkuna Zentroa, a modernist building renovated by Philippe Starck, world design guru. This Frenchman dares with music, interior design, cinema, boats… and for Bilbao he imagined a cultural and leisure center in this old warehouse. A space that today receives visitors with its central patio surrounded by dozens of columns, each one different from the rest. And it is not the only historical building bathed in contemporaneity. Another is the Ribera market, again next to the estuary, but now on the right bank and in the old town.
Of course, as a good modern city, sports venues, temples of our era, have been promoted. An analogy that is truer than ever here since the Athletic Cathedral was demolished to build the New San Mamés. While on the outskirts, in the thriving neighborhood of Miribilla, the award-winning and praised Bilbao Arena was built.
The quality and quantity of architectural projects has caused a flood of visits. And where there are tourists, hotels are needed. Propitious field for more innovative proposals. An example is the reinterpretation of Chillida’s art that the Mexican Ricardo Legorreta did in 2005 to build the current Meliá hotel. Or the most recent remodeling of the Gran Hotel Domine that has been guided by Javier Mariscal. By the way, an establishment whose façade connects with the Guggenheim, the landmark where everything began to take shape.
