Azkuna Zentroa (Alhóndiga)

This building, which takes up an entire block of the Ensanche, was the Alhóndiga, Bilbao’s municipal wine warehouse. It was built between 1905 and 1909 to a design by the architect Ricardo Bastida, and was one of the first public buildings in Biscay made of reinforced concrete. Here was stored the wine arriving in a fast-growing town.

1A building that waited

After a fire in 1919 and decades as a warehouse, it closed. In the 1980s there were plans to turn it into a cultural centre with the sculptor Jorge Oteiza, but the project fell through and soon afterwards another one appeared, the Guggenheim, which sparked a loud controversy. In the end, the French designer Philippe Starck gutted the interior, kept the facades and reopened it in 2010 as a leisure and cultural centre.

2Forty-three columns

Inside, three large brick volumes rest on 43 columns, all different: each with its own style, material and era, like a summary of the history of architecture. Up above is a swimming pool with a transparent bottom that you can see from the atrium. Since 2015 it has been called Azkuna Zentroa, in honour of Iñaki Azkuna, mayor during the city’s great transformation.

This is where the route ends: head back along the Gran Vía or down to the Old Town to round off the day with a few pintxos.

3What to look for

• The corner turrets, from Bastida’s original building.
• The columns in the atrium, if you go in: no two are alike.
• The bottom of the pool, seen from below.