HISTORY OF THE ALHÓNDIGA
Azkuna Zentroa - Alhóndiga Bilbao used to be a wine storage facility. Today, it's a place to live culture as a practice, process and space for experiences.
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HISTORY
At the beginning of the 20th century, Bilbao experienced a population and economic growth that prompted it to expand into the area known as El Ensanche, where buildings such as the Alhóndiga were erected.
In 1905, the City Council commissioned the municipal architect Ricardo Bastida to build this warehouse for wine, oil and pickling, which for six decades was one of the city's commercial highlights. Ricardo Bastida designed a large, functional, advanced industrial building in the Modernist style, one of the first to use concrete, in addition to stone and brick.
The Alhóndiga closed in the 70s due to the decline of its activity. Its reopening in 2010, converted into a leisure and culture centre, is part of the process that began in Bilbao in the 1990s to turn the industrial city model into a city of services, with culture as one of the main transformation drivers.
The building, whose facades have been maintained and rehabilitated, is in the modernist style. Its exterior classicism contrasts with the unique, sober and original urban interior space, designed by French designer Philippe Starck.
Throughout these years Azkuna Zentroa - Alhóndiga Bilbao has had different stages as a Leisure and Cultural Centre until now, where through the Project Programme 2019-2023 it has proposed to be the link between society and contemporary culture, adding value to the cultural, artistic and social context of the city. Through contemporary artistic creation, it collaborates in Bilbao's commitment to become a leading cultural reference.
Azkuna Zentroa is already a community formed by thousands of cultural agents and artists, with a stable program, a reference for services such as the Physical Activity Centre or the Mediateka BBK. All this knowledge, practices, projects and experiences have created the current foundation, the basis on which to project it as a new platform for 21st century culture.
Azkuna Zentroa - Alhóndiga Bilbao connects society to contemporary culture
PHILIPPE STARCK
An insatiable creator who bursts with imagination and a great producer of ideas, Philippe Starck fell in love with the Alhóndiga Bilbao project and with the city at first sight. As a result of this relationship, an unprecedented urban space was born, in which the author imprinted the unique style and special character of his works. He overcame the challenge of humanizing the construction and turning it into a referent in the local's daily lives.
For the rehabilitation, the original façade, declared a Cultural Heritage Site in 1999, was maintained, without any of the additions being allowed to exceed the height of the towers. The exterior classicism contrasts with the unique, sober and original urban interior space, devised by the French designer, Philippe Starck. A modern way of projecting this centenary space that maintains much of its essence in the atmosphere. It is a city within a city, with its buildings and streets, inhabited by the diversity of crowds that pass through them every day.
Azkuna Zentroa houses is one of the city’s most representative buildings.