Blog: From Pessac through San Sebastian and Bilbao to Coruña...

By Kirsten Kiser, Editor-In-Chief, arcspace.com

Corbusier, Moneo, Calatrava, Foster, Gehry, Soriano/Palacios, Pelli, Legorreta, Stern and Isozaki...

In December, while we are still on the roads of France, Spain and Portugal, we will not have our regular weekly full features but rather a mixture of things we see or hear about.

In 2002 arcspace will have full features on most of the buildings we are visiting on this trip.

Photo: arcspace Le Corbusier Cité Frugès (1930's)
An Urban Development of fifty-three houses built on the same basic module.
Pessac, France

Photo: arcspace Rafael Moneo
Kursaal Auditorium & Conference Center (1999)
San Sebastian, Spain

Photo: arcspace Santiago Calatrava Sondica Airport Terminal Building (2000) Bilbao, Spain

Photo: arcspace Norman FosterOne of the "Fosteritos" for the Bilbao Metro (1996 -)

Photo: arcspace Santiago Calatrava Zubi Zuri Pedestrian Bridge (1996)

Photo: arcspace Federico Soriano and Dolores Palacios (1999) Euskalduna Music and Congress Centre

Photo: arcspace Abandoibarra (1998 - 2004)
The 350,000 square meters Riverfront Development Master Planned by Cesar Pelli, between the Guggenheim Museum and the Euskalduna Music and Congress Center in the heart of Bilbao, will contain a combination of leisure, business, culture, environment and housing structures. Among the buildings under construction is a hotel by Ricardo Legorreta, a commercial center by Robert Stern and a tower by Cesar Pelli.

Photo: arcspace archive Frank Gehry - Model for the Marques de Riscal Vineyard

Another Frank Gehry building is on the way not far from Bilbao. The Hotel at the Marques de Riscal Vineyard in the Rioja region of the Basque Country will have layering ribbons of colored titanium in a canopy adorning the hotel building of natural colored stone. The hues of the colored metal are inspired by the rich tones of the sky and vineyards surrounding the building.

Photo: arcspace Arata Isozaki Domus Museum of Mankind (1995) Coruña, Spain
A new building designed by Arata Isozaki will soon be under construction in the center of Bilbao.

www.Bilbaoria2000.com

P.S. Stopped at arc en rêve in Bordeaux to see two exhibitions that will be on view until January 20, 2002.

Photo: arcspace W Y S I W Y G (What You See Is What You Get) Sauerbruch Hutton Architects

The exhibition represents 11 projects + work in progress by Sauerbruch Hutton Architects. Graphics, sketches, photos and drawings fill the walls while stereoscopic photographs can be viewed through mirrored table tops. Painted rectangular fields, in different gradations of green and white, with a tint of pink , cover the ceiling of the first two rooms referring to a Berlin project.

Photo: arcspace Re-f(r)action n°5 - Taeg Nishimoto architect

An installation of bent wood, connected by wires of steel suspended between the galleries, illustrates the manipulation and perception of space. The space is seen as a dialogue between different lines.