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Bilbao: The revitalisation of a CitySanchez S., Zulueta A., Barrallo J.

Bilbao, the city

Bilbao, is the most important city from the BasqueCountry, a historical territory placed in the North ofSpain close to the French border, and the heart of ametropolitan area with over 1,000,000 inhabitants.Since it was founded 700 years ago, it has been thecentral point for socio-economic development and thefundamental factor for the modernisation of the Bayof Biscay.

From Bordeaux to La Coruna, the hegemony ofBilbao is undeniable. No other city has so manyreasons to be the economic, financial, cultural andtourist centre of the whole area. But only during thelast years Bilbao has recovered its importance in thearea due to a deep transformation, changing from anindustrial city to a financial and service citycomplemented by an important cultural and

The city of Bilbao has suffered in the last decade a deep transformation. After aglorious industrial past, Bilbao was in 1990 a depressed city, and the strategiesnecessary to transform an industrial city into a service capital were no simple dueto the high level of pollution and unemployment rate.The “Bilbao Metropoli-30” Association was created to coordinate the synergeticaction of all the involved institutions: City Hall, Basque Country and SpanishGovernments, financial institutions, transport companies, airport and port, etc.But it was also necessary the acceptance of the public opinion to recover the illusionand the lost pride of the city. The desolated social scene was not adequate forrevolutionary designs like the winding Frank Gehry’s Bilbao Guggenheim Museum,or the cavernous Norman Foster’s underground.This work pretends to show the means and strategies, especially computational,that allowed the transformation of Bilbao with an enthusiastic citizen support.

Keywords: Metropolitan Bilbao, City Revitalisation, Architectural ComputerSimulation

architectural offer.For centuries, Bilbao has been one of the

industrial supports of Spain. The harbour and the steelindustry modified the shape of the city along the riverthat crosses it: the Nervion.

With the crisis of the 70’s, the industry decayed,the pollution became unsustainable and the NervionRiver, heart and soul of Bilbao, became extremelycontaminated. Smoke, and a progressive industrialdesert landscape is the image remaining from thoseyears.

The decade of the 80’s wasn’t better: theunemployment rates became higher and the politicalsituation, marked by the violence of ETA and thehardness of the Police, avoided any inversion ofexternal capital into the city.

The 90’s appeared as the last occasion totransform Bilbao into a service city before the final

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collapse. For this task, we had only four advantages:

• The strong and labourer character of theBasque people.

• The progressive changes of the political andsocial situation allowing for the first time inmany decades the cease of violence and, asa consequence, the inversion of capital.

• A very valuable terrain in the city centre,converted in an industrial desert, but readyto be transformed into the soul of the newBilbao.

• The privilege position in the North Atlantic:well linked with Madrid, Barcelona, Paris andLondon, and important contacts with Europe,America and Africa by sea and air.

Bilbao Metropoli 30

Metropolitan Bilbao is constituted by a set of 44municipalities around the Nervion River. Although theyhave their own administrative entities, all are joinedby an intense common industrial tradition, andconsidered as a single demographic and economicnucleus.

The association “Bilbao Metropoli-30” was createdto develop and coordinate the actions of the privatesectors and the public administrations of the City(Bilbao), Province (Bizkaia), Region (BasqueCountry), Country (Spain) and European Union.

This association was composed by the followingsectors:

• Bilbao Port and International Airport• Bus and Train Companies• Universities and Investigation Centres• Communication Companies• Financial entities• Associated enterprises• Public administration.

The main task of “Bilbao Metropoli-30” is to designand execute the Strategic Plan for the Revitalisation

of Metropolitan Bilbao, defined as a social andeconomic reality without precise geographic limits.The Plan is executed in regional, national andinternational environments.

In second place, the Association studies andinvestigates the actual situation of Metropolitan Bilbaoand promotes the synergetic action of the public andprivate sectors.

The recovery of the metropolitan estuary is oneof the key goals of the Strategic Plan for theRevitalisation of Metropolitan Bilbao. The Nervionestuary is the main axis of the conurbation and, as aresult, the industrialisation process heavily pollutedit.

For this reason, the Bilbao Bizkaia Water Authoritystarted the design of an Integral Clean-Up Plan in the70’s, which was directed to resolve the existingpollution in rivers, estuary and sea waters caused byindustrial and household waste. First stages of thePlan were implemented in 1981 and we can todaysee the effects in our environment of this Project dueto be finalised in the first years of the next century.Today, projects to recover and regenerate riversideurban sites are under way in the framework of therevitalisation of Metropolitan Bilbao.

Bilbao: Cultural and architecturalcity

The first step in the transformation of Bilbao into aservice city was to increase the offer of culturalactivities, and the construction of the necessaryinfrastructure. The building for the Bilbao GuggenheimMuseum was considered as the most emblematicbuilding of this revitalisation process. But it was notgoing to be an easy process.

Bilbao has an astonishing architecture in a richurbanistic ensemble, with modernist and rationalbuildings mingling together. The monumental andhistorical area of the old quarter, restored after thefloods of 1983, becomes the reference forreconstructing the history of the city since its origins,in the early Middle Ages, and it is an example of urban

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regeneration.With this environment, the first prototype of the

Bilbao Guggenheim Museum presented did not havea good welcome by the citizenship. Actually, thebuilding looked very strange and probably the scalemodel did not showed it efficiently.

Spanish architects also questioned Frank O.Gehry, an architect whose buildings always have hadmany problems with delays in the constructionschedules, surpluses from the initial budgets and thevery expensive maintenance of his buildings.

On the other hand the cultural equipment for thecity was going to substitute the factories, cranes andwarehouses where people had worked for years. Forunemployed citizens the inversion for these buildingswas no reasonable. The change from an industrialcity into a cultural service city was not going to beeasy, while fully immersed in a social and economiccrisis.

A change of strategy was necessary. Peopleneeded to “fall in love” with the idea of the newMuseum, to express enthusiasm and support to theproject. Computers were able to reproduce realisticallythe complexity of the Bilbao Guggenheim Museumbuilding: the materials, the shapes, the light, and theinterior in a very different way, compared with theprevious scale model.

So a video was created to show the CAD model,but it also included many images of the steel structuresimilar to the ships that were constructed in the sameground years before. Images of people working thesteel, using cranes, welding, etc. gave a dynamicimage that soon made the Bilbao GuggenheimMuseum very popular.

Guided visits for all the Bilbao citizens wereorganised every day while constructing the Museum.Pins, T-shirts, bags, books, etc. were given to all thevisitors. People and the Basque companies workingin the Museum got really excited about the dailytransformation of the building, from the steel structureto the titanium sheets that cover the surface.

In fact, the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum is thefirst of Frank O. Gehry’s buildings finished within the

Figure 1 (top left). Project forthe recovery of theMetropolitan Bilbao Estuaryin Barakaldo.

Figure 2 (bottom left). Firstprototype of the BilbaoGuggenheim Museum.

foreseen budget and time schedule.The cultural equipment was successfully

completed with other buildings, featuring theEuskalduna Music Palace by Federico Soriano andDolores Palacios.

Communications

The last challenge of the Metropolitan Bilbao was theimprovement of the communication infrastructure.

Metropolitan Bilbao boasts competitive portfacilities up to standard with ports in other majormetropolitan areas. The Port of Bilbao is alreadySpain’s premier port in terms of shipping volume andwater depth. An extension of the port is underway to

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Figure 3 (top right). Picturesfrom the Bilbao GuggenheimMuseum promotional video.The video mixes real imagesof the constructive processwith computer generatedimages of the final building.

Figure 4 (bottom right). TheEuskalduna Music Palace.

provide more space for activities and to transfer portfacilities from their old inner city riverside.

Bilbao airport offers more than 600 flights perweek to the main cities of Spain and Europe. Thesteady increase in air traffic and the deregulation ofair transport are among the factors that have led toan extension and modernisation project at BilbaoAirport by the architect Santiago Calatrava.

The development of the interchange transportknot for high-speed, suburban and long distancetrains, urban and intercity buses, metro and car-parking, will be completed by the future IntermodalStation, still under project by the architect: MichaelWilford (successor of James Stirling).

But the most difficult task was the construction ofthe new Bilbao Metropolitan Railway. City plannersand project managers designed several kinds ofrailways (surface and underground), perfectlydistributed along the city. An ecological light tramwaycrosses the cultural Bilbao over a green garden, whilsta modern underground traverses the business centre.

Sir Norman Foster and his team werecommissioned to design and plan the undergroundstations on the city centre. In addition to the centralideas of originality, simplicity and efficiency ever-present in Foster’s work, the Bilbao Metro incorporatesthe positive core concept of integrating architectural

and engineering features to create the smooth flowinglines and spaces which is so characteristic.

From the beginning of the project developmentspecial attention was given to the design andarchitecture of the stations. This approach should notmerely centre on aesthetic considerations but shouldcover such aspects as functionality, commuterconvenience and comfort.

The following three elements relate to thestructure of the stations: A gigantic cavern with a cross-section measuring 160 m2 where track bays, platformsand mezzanines are located. The access walkwayswith halls into and from which stairs lead to platformsand the street. The halls and mezzanines hang fromthe station ceiling.

The overall result is one of beauty andfunctionality. The Metro architecture also finds uniqueexpression in the street as what are now termed“fosteritos”. The visual impression is of extraordinaryspaciousness where the passenger does not feeltrapped and can find whatever he needs close at hand.

Again, as with the Bilbao Guggenheim Museum,the underground project had many difficulties with theinitial design. Foster’s idea of the treatment of theinterior as a cavern was initially not well received. Buta computer model showing a virtual journey dissipatedall doubts and showed the luminosity and spacesensation of the cavern.

One station and one underground wagon unitwere opened in advance to the public. Citizens visitedthem and gave their suggestions about the design.Some of them were accepted and introduced as partof the final project.

Bilbao City Centre: Abandoibarra

Abandoibarra is a huge space of 350,000 m2 placed

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Figure 5 (top left). BilbaoMetropolitan Railway Plan

Figure 6 (bottom left). SirNorman Foster’s design forthe Bilbao MetropolitanUnderground.

in the city centre of Bilbao. Converted in an industrialdesert during the 80’s, is now considered as the mostvaluable terrain in Bilbao, between the GuggenheimBilbao Museum and the Euskalduna Music Palace.Cesar Pelli was elected in an international contest torevitalise this space.

The main challenge of this project was to reorderthe spaces eliminating the trails of the old industrialinfrastructures, and the configuration of a new urbanspace in harmony with the Bilbao city centre.

The project of Cesar Pelli is composed by 200,000m2 of green zones and free spaces along oneKilometre of the Nervion River. The green zones willsave the difference of height (nine metres) betweenthe river and the city centre by means of soft ramps.

Office buildings will constitute the major use ofAbandoibarra, around an emblematic tower of 30storeys. A commercial centre and residential buildingscomplete the project.

Abandoibarra was presented to the citizenshipwith several computer models and photo realisticimages. A stand of 300 m2 was erected in the city toshow the Plan of Abandoibarra and to answerquestions related to the project. The participation ofpeople was enthusiastic, with debates, workshops andeven a free newspaper dedicated to the latest newsand activities about Abandoibarra.

A Maritime Museum is also under construction.Several ships in a dike, a lighthouse and a big crane

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Figure 7 (right). TheAbandoibarra project byCesar Pelli.

Figure 8 (botom right).Computer model of the citycentre.

complete the ensemble that will remember sevencenturies of marine tradition in Bilbao.

Conclusions

In 1998 the economy of Metropolitan Bilbao raised5.5%, and 10,000 new jobs were created, basicallysustained by the private sector. We can say now thatthe revitalisation of Bilbao has been a completesuccess.

The absolute support of citizenship to the projectis basically one the keys of this success. Probablythis is due to the continuous urbanistic and

architectural formation that people has received duringthe last years from media and to the presence ofprojects and ideas from first class architects (Gehry,Foster, Pei, Stirling, Wilford, Bofill, Calatrava,Fernandez-Ordonez...).

In the international contest for Abandoibarra, wonby Cesar Pelli, a parallel non-vinculante contest wasmade between the people from Bilbao. As result, theyselected the same project as the international jury.Citizens could understand the projects and takedecisions based on computer simulations and photorealistic images.

After that experiences the question is: maycitizens be involved in the development of their cities,supported by realistic computer aided architecturaldesigns? Probably we have underestimated thecapacity of citizenship to choose the kind of city theywant to live in.

Sanchez S., Zulueta A., Barrallo J.The University of the Basque CountryE.T.S. Arquitectura. Plaza Onati, 220009 San Sebastian – SPAINmapbacaj@sa.ehu.es