Rehabilitation of urban skylights
Introduction
The Azkuna Zentroa (official name;[1] Spanish translation: Centro Azkuna), formerly Alhóndiga Bilbao, is a former wine warehouse located in the town of Bilbao (Vizcaya, Spain), converted into a leisure and cultural center.
Built between 1905 and 1909 according to a project by Ricardo Bastida, it represented the affirmation of a new idea of a building in terms of its implementation, as it was located on the new city layout that was born at that time, occupying the entirety of one of the blocks of the Ensanche de la Villa; and in terms of its construction, given the use of innovative techniques from a structural point of view, being one of the first examples of public architecture in reinforced concrete.[2].
The building, in addition to meeting the functional order requirements for which it was designed, transcends the mere character of a warehouse to be inserted into the fabric of the expansion as an element with the vocation of forming a city. This duality of the approach is evident in it, being able to identify the elements that address each of the aspects reviewed.
In 1919 it suffered a fire and subsequent restoration. Closed for a long time, in the 1980s its adaptation as a cultural center was considered with the participation of Jorge Oteiza. This project was frustrated and shortly afterwards an alternative one emerged in Bilbao, that of the Guggenheim Museum, which motivated criticism from Oteiza and a controversy that only died down due to the unusual success of the new museum.
Finally, the Alhóndiga was renovated as a multipurpose civic center, with the intervention of designer Philippe Starck and was inaugurated on May 18, 2010.[3].
On December 10, 2014, the acting mayor Ibon Areso announced that the Alhóndiga leisure and culture center would be renamed the Iñaki Azkuna center in recognition of the man who was mayor of Bilbao for more than three terms. Finally, on March 16, 2015 it was officially renamed Azkuna Zentroa.
Original building by Ricardo Bastida
Inside
The interior presents a diaphanous configuration in which the undoubted attractiveness of the possibility of experiencing the entire space corresponding to a block of the expansion is combined with the geometric rigor that the structure possesses, which fosters notable perceptions of the space modulated by it. The reinforced concrete porticos (La Alhóndiga was one of the first buildings made with this technique in Vizcaya), present a repetitive modulation that is slightly altered in the areas where various functional needs demand it. The circulation streets inside the ground and basement floors, associated vertically with large openings in the upper floors to provide lighting for the complex, create areas of rupture of the structural plot. The reason for its existence, therefore, must be sought in the functional adaptation to the use for which it was designed, this being, consequently, an aspect to preferably be considered in the assessment of the building. The cleanliness and forcefulness of the existing structure, however, end up spatially characterizing its interior.