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Text: Beyond Bilbao - three contemporary cultural architecture projects in Northern Spain (2022)

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- Centro Botín - Santander
- Centro Niemeyer - Avilés
- Ciudad de Cultura (Gaías) - Santiago de Compostela

- text on northern Spanish cultural architecture projects

This photo-essay shows three contemporary cultural architecture projects in their urban context. They are located in Northern Spain, West of Bilbao; Centro Botín in Santander, Centro Niemeyer in Avilés and Cidade da Cultura (Gaías) in Santiago de Compostela. The three Spanish cities have, each in their own way, substantially invested in cultural architecture as a vehicle to positively impact city development. The three cities have involved well-known architects, Renzo Piano, Oscar Niemeyer and Peter Eisenman resp., to design remarkable buildings that attract attention and do justice to the development aims of the cities.

Bilbao

Before turning to the three projects, first the case of Bilbao may be mentioned because it has been a reference. The well-known Bilbao’s Guggenheim that opened in 1997 had some major impacts (Plaza and Haarich, 2016; Franklin, 2016; Lange-Valdéz, 2018).

First, Bilbao has been attracting many visitors from Spain and from outside Spain who want to see the spectacular Guggenheim Museum building and the other parts of the regenerated city. Guggenheim has become an architectural icon and put contemporary architecture in the Spanish tourist picture[1].

Second, the case of Bilbao shows that big investments in culture and open space can have positive outcomes on the city profile. Bilbao is not known any more as the rather dirty industrial city, but now it is a modernized city with spectacular architecture and international tourism, a place that should be seen. Other Spanish cities looked at Bilbao as an example of a successful culture-led urban strategy based on bold decisions and the involvement of a signature architect. The case of Bilbao impacted cultural architecture decisions in Spain, and outside Spain too, but to what extent it has influenced decision making processes is of course rather hard to detect.

Third, what Bilbao also showed is that new major architecture does not have to align with the existing place identity, contrary to what is often believed. New, very different and sometimes controversial buildings have been constructed before, think of Centre Pompidou in Paris (and longer ago, the Eiffel tower), but these new developments generally fit into a bigger city system, and have less impact on the overall identity, although they may become city lead symbols (e.g. Sydney’s Opera). Bilbao is an intermediate city with its 350.000 inhabitants, and Guggenheim became a dominant symbol for Bilbao’s new identity.

The cases of Santander, Avilés and Santiago de Compostela (hereafter: Santiago) are different from Bilbao. At the end of this text a comparison is presented. The websites of the cultural centres in the three cities contain details of the buildings and their development process. We can therefor limit this text to sketching a context for the photos.

[1] E.g https://www.spain.info/en/top/avant-garde-architecture/ and https://www.spain.info/en/top/contemporary-architecture-inland-spain/.

Centro Botín in Santander is a cultural centre for contemporary art exhibitions, music, film, theatre, and literature. It aims to be a lively, welcoming place, a regular meeting point for people to enjoy themselves, learn, and become inspired, thanks to the diverse range of artistic experiences on offer for all types of audiences. Moreover, it aims at being an engine for generating economic, social, and cultural wealth on the Cantabrian coast. It is a private sector initiative, of the Botín Foundation, linked to Banco Santander.

The building (10.285 sq.mtr.) has been designed by Renzo Piano in collaboration with Luis Vidal + architects. It is set in a beautiful location on the Santander Bay next to the seafront promenade. It finds itself in the historic Pereda Gardens that have been extended to double their previous size by Piano in collaboration with landscape designer Fernando Caruncho. Ramos-Carranza et al. (2020) describe the historical background and the spatial configuration of the centre. The Centre has gallery spaces, lecture rooms, work spaces, a roof terrace open to the public and a 300-seater auditorium. It also has a popular café and an arts shop. A tunnel was constructed to guide car traffic. The centre was opened in 2017 by the Spanish King, three years later than initially planned.

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There was opposition from various organisations, they fought against locating a building on the seafront and in a public space of great value, with the intention of favouring an individual (private sector) organization at the cost of causing serious damage to the configuration of the city (Pozas Pozas, 2018). Gómez-Martínez (2021) states that there will always be those who understand the Botín Center as a symbol of the narcissism of the architect and the search for immortality of the client (Botín Foundation, linked to Banco Santander), at the cost of ruining the landscape values of the city. Cano Pairet (2020) explains that the opposition, united in ‘Plataforma en Defensa de la Bahía’ was against the location, not against the centre itself. Centro Botín is now an appreciated tourism resource, adding to the diversification of Santander as a destination (Cano Pairet, 2020). In 2019 186.000 people visited Centro Botín, 40% of which from Spain outside Cantabria and 13% from outside Spain. Cano Pairet (2020) concludes that three years after the opening, in general Santander’s citizens are pleased with Centro Botín.

As a visitor, unaware of the history, I found Centro Botín delightful. The location is beautiful, its setting in the park (without traffic due to the tunnel) on the seafront is precious. The centre and the surrounding public space and park is full of life. There are visitors to the exhibitions or the workshop spaces, but what brings life to the place is the lively café, the visitors climbing the stairs or taking the elevator to go to one of the viewing platforms, families enjoying the park, groups gathering in the plaza of the centre, a bicycle path runs under the building, etc. The architecture is of course a matter of preference, but I found it wonderful. The building is less spectacular than the Guggenheim in Bilbao. It is of a different nature – Guggenheim is for visiting exhibitions and gazing at the place and walking around it and taking pictures. Centro Botín is more of a cultural centre and public space where people can meet, go to the viewing platforms and sit in the shadow under the building.

Centro Niemeyer in Avilés was started in 2011 as an open space for arts and cultural events – music, theatre, dance, expositions and speaking. It is one of Asturias’ tourism attractions and intended as a symbol of Avilés’ transformation. The development and setting of Centro Niemeyer has been described in detail by Álvarez Martínez (2018). The centre contains an auditorium for 1,000 people, a dome for art exhibitions, a multifunctional building that has a cinema and cafeteria, and a 13 meter lookout tower over the Avilés estuary, used as restaurant. Centro Niemeyer has a large open public space that is used for leisure activities. The Centre uses this space for open air performances. The centre is located on ‘the other side’ of the river, extending the old city centre. A pedestrian walkway was designed to cross the river, the railroad and big road and connected the historic centre of Avilés to the Centro Niemeyer. After the walkway, there a tunnel under the port road with the entrance to the Centre (Falomir Mañá and Salcedo, 2020).

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Centro Niemeyer is part of a recovery strategy of Avilés, a city hit by deindustrialization and a shrinking population. In that sense, it reminds of Bilbao; an estuary clean-up, investments in the port and road infrastructure and a new business park are bigger investments than Centro Niemeyer (Sánchez-Moral, Méndez and Prada-Trigo, 2015). Centro Niemeyer was envisioned as an engine of change for urban transformation; Avilés started with international ambitions for the Centre, but it has a locan and regional function.

Centro Niemeyer is very different from the rest of the city. Falomir Mañá and Salcedo (2020) frame it as a ‘dialogue with the urban context’, but an ordinary visitor like me does not see what this dialogue is about. Centro Niemeyer is a beautiful light complex of modern architecture on the other side of the river. As a visitor taking pictures, Centro Niemeyer was very nice experience, and so was the informative guided tour. The big open space is used by families for leisure activities, and this brings life to the place. Benito del Pozo (2016) talks about success of Centro Niemeyer, but that is not the case for international tourism – the number of visitors is low. Centro Niemeyer serves a local and regional function, not a national or international one. Avilés does not have distinctive other tourism resources, taking into account that nearby Oviedo has a big and precious old town and nearby bigger Gijon has a lively economy.

City of Culture (Cidade da Cultura de Galicia, CdC) in Santiago is, in its own words, a large-scale cultural hub, devoted to the knowledge and creativity of today, enabling an integrated approach to a strategic element for the development of Galicia: that of culture. Architecture has been made to be at the service of culture and art. In 1999 twelve design concepts were received by renowned architects and Peter Eisenmann’s was selected. CdC was initially envisioned as a space for promoting Galicia and its culture worldwide. The proposed complex had six big buildings - a Library, Newspaper Library, Music Theatre, Museum, Central Services building and New Technologies building. The initial budget was € 108 million. The plan was discussed and in 2005 redefined when the Galician government changed and a leftwing coalition that was very critical of the developments took over power from a rightwing government led by Manual Fraga, a long-serving president of the regional government (1990 – 2005). Realised have been the Centre for Creative Entrepreneurship, the Library and Archive, the Museum and the Centre for Cultural Innovation, with a range of open spaces and works of art.

The current strategic plan 2021 - 2027 (Xunta de Galicia, 2020) stresses entrepreneurship, technology and the programming of Galician culture. A new building dedicated to research, the Fontán Building (12,689 m2) which was planned but on a location elsewhere, was added to CdC after some architectural adjustments (especially the roof). The building with its rather conventional glass façade and steel, is quite different. The complex is now almost completed, at an estimated cost of € 400 million. It has been labelled as a ‘white elephant’, just like the City of Science and Arts in Valencia (Linheira et al., 2018). Lopez et al. (2022) have aptly described and analysed CdC’s evolution and refer to the many earlier studies conducted.

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The complex is big – its surface is 14 hectares. Its location is on Mount Gaías, 4 km away from the historic centre of the old city. Gaías is the name that is now more often used, instead of CdC. CdC so far failed as a tourist attraction. CdC is at a distance from the World Heritage City of Santiago, the final point of the popular St. Jacob’s Way, but pilgrims walking this way do not come over to CdC. They stay for 1-2 days in the old city and then go back home after their long hike or bicycle ride. The vision, long time ago of the then president of Galicia, entailed that St. Jacob’s Way pilgrims would continue from the old cathedral, the final point of the St Jacob’s Way, into modernity of CdC. They don’t.

As a visitor, my experience of CdC was very gratifying, with some astonishment too. The guided tour was interesting. The buildings, both outside and inside, are beautiful, the complex as a whole is big, different, spacious, well designed with a fine balance between buildings, art and nature. The parks and the green are well maintained. Astonishment was also part of the experience; during my visit (in the weekend), the place was almost empty. A guided tour showed that tourism to this destination is minimal; St. Jacob’s Way tourists do not come to CdC (even though there was at the time of my visit a beautiful arts exhibition of Spanish photography with the theme of the St. Jacob’s way from Sevilla to Santiago), but cultural tourism (including architourism), is also quite limited. The history of the CdC complex may have been problematic, Santiago may be out of the popular tourist way, but the destination deserves far more visitors’ interest than it now receives.

Cultural centres and identity

The significance of the cultural buildings can be framed in terms of city identity. In Santander, Centro Botín is a major cultural project in the city but will not completely change the city. It is one of the leading city symbols for visitors and for citizens now. The centre is well integrated into the city’s infrastructure and public space. If we call Centro Botín integrated, then Avilés Centro Niemeyer is an island in the city. Almost literally, since the project is separated from the old town by a river, a road and a light railway line. Centro Niemeyer is promoted by the municipality and Asturias region. CdC in Santiago is a major complex outside the city, it is ‘otro mundo’ (another world), 4 km. away from the heritage city of Santiago. Santiago has the identity of the immensely popular Camino, the Saint Jacob’s Way. The municipality does not use CdC as an identity symbol, because the St. Jacob’s Way is very strongly attached to Santiago.
Guggenheim is a museum with art in ownership, the other three are multifunctional centres organizing art exhibitions. CdC has the broadest range of functions, and it is the biggest of the four places.

In table 1 below, a summary is given of the 3 projects, with Bilbao as a contrast.

City size according to Foro-Ciudad. Investment figures vary according to various source and are an indication only (1997 euros have a different value than 2017 euros).Visitor numbers: 2019 was selected as last pre-pandemic year for the no. of visitors that can be measured for a museum (no. of tickets sold), but in the cases of CdC and Centro Niemeyer, where open spaces count and (free) events are organised, they are approximations. In Santander many people visit the Centro Botin, but do not visit the exhibitions and stay in the public space. CdC counts all people in the area as visitors, also working people, and the number of visitors is said to be based on the numbers of cars in the car parking.

Bilbao effect?

Bilbao may have been a source of inspiration, but the three cities do not go through a transformation process like Bilbao did. There are various reasons for this. First, the cities are different. Pozas Pozas (2018, 769) makes an appropriate comparison between Santander and Bilbao, stressing that Santander was and is a commercial port city and Bilbao was a dilapidated post-industrial city that moved its port outside the city. Second, ‘Bilbao’ as a source for an effect is much more than the cultural institution of Guggenheim – it is a complete urban redevelopment, starting with cleaning up the river. And third, Bilbao was earlier, Guggenheim opened in 1997, and Centro Niemeyer and CdC in 2011, in a time of economic crisis. In conclusion, there is no ‘Bilbao effect’ in the three cities. And it could not be expected. It seems that Centro Botín in Santander is smoothly integrated and is a visitor resource now, Centro Niemeyer is to an extent and in CdC much work is needed to establish its profile and attract more visitors to the centre.

Cultural city tourism

Santander Centro Botín is a prime attraction for citizens and visitors but it is not a magnet like Guggenheim. Santander receives less visitors than e.g. Donostia / San Sebastian, which is close to the Spanish / French border and has more old world charm. Avilés' Centro Niemeyer has a local / regional cultural function. Visitors to the nearby provincial capital of Oviedo do not easily come over since Avilés does not have many other tourism attractions. In Santiago, CdC is a big tourism resource that cannot capture its value. It is located in a corner of Spain and receives tourists from Portugal and some archi-tourists. CdC does not have the newness that Guggenheim Bilbao had, and city tourists have nowadays many choices – theirs is not CdC in Santiago. Our hypothesis would be that cultural tourists visiting Spain will, after Barcelona and Madrid, first go to Bilbao if they love contemporary architecture and art, and to places like Valencia, Seville and Granada, if they want to experience modern and traditional culture and arcuitecture.

The importance of cultural tourists increases. For Spain it is interesting – cultural tourists prolong the tourism season, they have money to spend, and do not display disturbing behaviour associated with overtourism. A tourism route along the cultural centres, from an architourism or a cultural tourism point, could be investigated as an offer. That requires collaboration between various cultural institutions in different provinces and regional and local tourism agencies.