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Looking beyond the Abandoibarra area, the transformation of Bilbao is manifest in the work carried out in the Ensanche district, home to unique new constructions at the service of both the city and its people.
Fine Arts Museum Whereas the Guggenheim is the museum of art collections, the Fine Arts Museum is the museum of art.
Inaugurated in 1945, and designed by architects Fernando URRUTIA and Gonzalo CARDENAS, this Neo-classical building was declared a Historical-Artistic Monument in 1962. Subsequently erected in 1972, the modern building is the work of Alvaro LIBANO and Ricardo BEASCOA, influenced by the Modern Movement. Inside, the Museum houses an exquisite collection of paintings. The Fine Arts Museum of Bilbao was reinaugurated after it was enlarged.
Under the direction of architect Luis Maria URIARTE, the building gained another storey which provided an extra 1,000 m2 in exhibition space, a library and a 220 seat auditorium. Additionally, there is a novel educational department to divulge the contents of the permanent library collection, and of course, Arbolaga単a Restaurant, a place for culinary art. Despite all the modifications, the modern appearance and feel, the Fine Arts Museum of Bilbao continues to maintain its historical roots.
Bizkaia Provincial Library The Bizkaia Provincial Library is an innovative modern combination of glass and stone, a gigantic cube with 12.5 km of shelving. During the day its faรงade reflects the image of the Provincial Government Building, just opposite, while at night it reveals its book collection to the outside. The building can accommodate 500,000 volumes exactly double the number of volumes presently in the collection.
Perhaps the designers' detailed knowledge of the city, the Bilbao-based architectural firm IMB, enabled them to successfully come up with an edifice perfectly tied in with the rest of the city centre. More than just a library, this work has brought life to the area, making it friendlier, more inhabitable and more human. With the books in sight, the people of Bilbao have found a place for pleasant conversation.
Osakidetza Building Designed by Juan COLL-BARREAU, the most intellectually restless of Basque architects, the Basque Health Service Building is found right downtown Bilbao. Its unmistakeable polyhedron faรงade is transparent, with movement and life, and yet above all, functional. Its sustainable design makes for a building that behaves as a thermal cushion in winter while it is well-ventilated in summer. The faรงade's multiple planes reflect the other buildings around it, traffic and even the nearby mountains, all pervaded by its greenish coloured glass. Certainly, the building corner is a mark of distinction, not only here, but for the whole area of more classic building designs, fully integrating Mr COLL-BARREAU's innovative work.
Isozaki Atea Towers Inevitably, the Isozaki Towers bring to mind the Petronas Towers of Malaysia or the former Twin Towers of New York. These 80 m. high twin buildings bring the Ensanche closer to the River as never before with a corridor stretching from Zubi-Zuri bridge to Alameda Mazarredo Avenue.
Jointly designed by the Japanese architect Arata ISOZAKI and Basque architect Iñaki AURREKOETXEA, the complex comprises seven buildings altogether, with construction beginning in 2003 after the demolition of the Bilbao Bonded Warehouse Building. The technical aspect of the two main towers was highly challenging, though strangely enough the greatest complication laid with the five small blocks distributed like a screen which reutilised the foundation of the old building. The construction of a square and a stairway measuring over 70 metres in length solved the level difference between the River and the Ensanche district. The use of a variety of building finishes aspires to differentiate the building complex from the appearance of standard overcrowded housing.
David Herranz
Architect Iñaki AURREKOETXEA highlighted that “unlike other buildings, not only were these buildings to be contemplated, but the people of Bilbao could walk among them and use them.”
Basque Government Building The Basque Government building in Bizkaia Square metaphorically recreates reflective sunglasses due to its location, a place in Indautxu district with highly irregular dimensions, of great length yet with a reduced irregular width. Indeed, it was the sum of these very limiting factors that motivated the architects even more, the same architects who designed the Euskalduna Conference Centre, Federico SORIANO and Dolores PALACIO.
Finally, this eight floor building with its undulating faรงade makes optimum use of available sunlight as it faces west, contributing to a sustainable building, with the serigraphed motif adding character and beauty as well.
San Mames Barria and University Campus The location of the Stadium, at the end of Ensanche district, with its privileged view of the River obligingly turns this building into an architectural icon manifesting itself in clear no uncertain terms. This is how the Bilbao-based architectural firm ACXT approached the design of the new San Mames Stadium: San Mames Barria. The team of architects led by Cesar AZCARATE has designed a glass and metal faรงade and roof with vertical metal elements allowing light to enter the stadium, thereby endowing it with tremendous luminosity, visibility and functionality. Seat 53,000 spectators, San Mames Barria is basically distributed between two amphitheatres and an intermediate ring housing the VIP suites.
The stadium will be a neighbour of the Basque Public University (UPV-EHU) technological campus. Moreover, the area will have a new motor vehicle access road to Bilbao via the Olabeaga cornice. This fact prompted ACXT to accord added value to vehicle traffic by emphasising spatial qualities and intimately integrating them into the city and surrounds. In May 2010, legendary Athletic Club football goalkeeper Jose Angel IRIBAR was requested to tear a small piece of the pitch and deposit it on a transparent plaque. Outside the stadium, first team player Iker MUNIAIN removed a stone from the outer wall located next to the VIP suites. The two pieces of 'red and white', history were transported from hand to hand via a human chain to the site of the future stadium. As of the 2015 season, the new San Mames will be the venue where Athletic Club will play its matches. One could say, in fact, that in Bilbao football is almost considered a religion, and the significance of the stadium going far beyond that of a mere a football pitch, as its popular name implies: the new Cathedral.
The School of Public Works and Mining,
However, so that it will be more than just football, the new stadium will stand along side the Technological Campus of the Basque Public University (UPV-EHU). Therefore, apart from the Auditorium in Abandoibarra, the Public University will have the following buildings in Bilbao: the existing School of Industrial Engineering, which will remain next to the coach station; the new building of the School of Industrial Technical Engineering, currently in La Casilla; the School of Public Works and Mining, currently in Barakaldo; and pending confirmation: the new School of Telecommunications and Audiovisual Communication, and the new University RD&i Centre and Library.
Sarriko Conservatory The new Bilbao Conservatory Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga in Sarriko was designed by architects Roberto ERCILLA and Miguel Angel CAMPO. The complex acoustic and functional needs were resolved by reducing the number of formal and construction resources which such an avantgarde building might have had. A good example of these novel features is its system of fluorescent lamps flooding the interior of the double faรงade with colour that changes automatically according to the pre-programmed date and time. Next to the Conservatory a children's playground was created with the first toys in the city dedicated to experimenting with sound.