The building of the archive seems to be a point phenomenon of the integration of modern architecture into traditional buildings, but in fact, much larger processes are behind it. Thanks to the new Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao became famous and acquired the status of one of the tourist centers of Spain. But the museum, designed by Frank Gehry, is just one of 25 sites implemented over the past 25 years as part of the city's transformation project. Along with the restoration of the historic center, the development of the airport and urban transport systems, there are the points "Architecture of New Bilbao" and "Transformation of the Ensanche District", which houses the new building of the Historical Archives of the Basque Country.
Ensanche in translation means "expansion". This is the name for parts of Spanish cities that were built up at the end of the 19th century, when the industrial revolution, the demographic explosion and, of course, the influence of Baron Haussmann's project for the reconstruction of Paris launched the same scenario in several cities: the demolition of old city walls and the construction of new territories with a grid of blocks. The most famous example is, of course, the Barcelona of Ildefons Cerda. Madrid and Bilbao developed similarly.
The new building of the archive is obliged to play according to the rules set by such traditional buildings. It occupies a 20 m wide plot, sandwiched between two neighboring houses, but extending 70 m deep into the block.
There are several multifunctional exhibition halls on the first and second floors and part of the first underground level. This part is open for free access. Through the 1st floor you can freely go to the garden, which is not quite typical for European neighborhoods, where the courtyard is usually closed to the public. Above the 2nd floor, the 25-meter-thick building is occupied by administrative premises and laboratories, access to which is limited.
The ground part of the building supports the street line and the height of the houses located nearby, and underground it occupies the entire area of the site, going 20 meters deep. Most of the underground spaces are closed to the public. Actually, the archive itself is located underground - along with meeting rooms and a parking lot, where cars get from street level using an elevator. In the underground part, thanks to a small atrium, natural ventilation and lighting are used to the maximum.
It should be noted that the walls of the underground part were built using the hydrofraise technique, that is, they were completed before the excavation began in the rocky ground. This allowed to reduce the time of work, as well as vibrations that could disturb the surrounding buildings, especially since some of them are more than a hundred years old.
The building of the archive seeks to be one of the “showcases” of the transformations taking place in the city. Along with the social functions that integrate the archive into urban life, this can explain a certain “literality” of the street façade. It is a vibrating glass surface through which you can observe the life of the building and its structural arrangement. The glass is patterned from the texts stored in the archive, which adds a very clear symbolism to the building. However, this facade, in my opinion, raises doubts, first of all, by how appropriate such a solution is in the Spanish sun. And the pattern seems to be very cutesy, and it is all the more offensive because it affects the impression of the impeccable architecture of the interiors and the internal facade, overlooking the courtyard and gracefully adjacent to a somewhat shabby environment.
