Alhóndiga

Alhondiga Bilbao

Alhóndiga, Bilbao


LOCATION:
Bilbao (SPAIN)

ARCHITECT:
Ricardo Bastida (original) Philippe Stark (refurbishment)

MODEL:
ALHONDIGA

MORE INFO:
CLIENT: www.azkunazentroa.com
ARCHITECTwww.starck.com

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A six thousand square-metre indoor “Gran Plaza Central” on the ground floor is surrounded by a colonnade with 43 pillars with the task of supporting the three internal buildings in the shape of a cube. These three themed buildings (knowledge, well-being and leisure) make up a multi-purpose area of almost 40,000m2, each divided into three floors. The basements are accessed from this meeting point, to reach the leisure area, cinemas, exhibition hall and the theatre and an auditorium for 400 spectators. To round it off, the visitor can go up to the magnificent “Sun Terrace”, where the Alhóndiga’s urban spa is located. This will be the admiration of visitors entering from downstairs, thanks to the transparent bottom of its swimming pools

Rarely has a contemporary building elicited such universal approval from those who use it. With almost four million visitors per year, this bold venture looks like having the same impact that the Guggenheim had in its day. The difference being that Gehry’s project was a statement aimed at the outside world, an advertisement for a city newly opened for tourism, where Starck’s is a gift from the city to the city.

Both theatre and cinema venues were equipped with custom design chairs from Ascender. The solution for the theatre is a chair with pure lines that can be used either for theater or conference purposes: it includes a writing tablet concealed into the standard that is accessible only when the front aluminum plate is removed. Meanwhile, the cinema chair has a fancy aluminium cup holder on front instead and its back cushion merged with the adjacent chair in order to create a sofa effect without gaps.

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