Branding Bilbao
On Leggoretas Sheraton Hotel Bilbao
At the end of the 1980ties the Spanish city of Bilbao, the Basque name for the beautiful ford, realized it had ended up as an outdated industrial seaport without obvious visual attractions. So in a desperate move to change the all but promising prospects of the future Bilbao decided to remove most of its urban riverside structure to give way for totally new functions as well as a quite different sort of architecture. Most important in this respect has been the replacement of the ancient quays of shipyards and container areas to give way for the Guggenheim museum designed by Frank Gehry. By building this original titanium-clad museum the city has obtained what has later been named the Bilbao-effect, a term referring to the precious luck for the Basque city of getting an icon able to attract attention and tourists worldwide.
Since that mayor luck dating back to 1997 the city of Bilbao has tried to follow up by getting more famous architects making other masterpieces. Stuck to this policy there have been gains and losses, the worst example so far being a mayor shopping mall while a nearby hotel designed by the Mexican office of Leggoreta Architects currently being the most interesting.
Situated next to the Nervion River at the Holy Cross monument the new hotel is extremely exposed on its rather small site of just 900 square metres. Following the local regulations demanding a block with a fixed perimeter and a compact outline the outcome has been a freestanding building ten storeys high containing more than 200 bedrooms. From the outside as well as from the interior the Sheraton Bilbao might appear a little odd or out of context with its neighbouring forms and colours of the city.
The somewhat unfamiliar architecture is due to the choice of Mexican architect Ricardo Leggoreto, more famous for using perforated walls in bright colours than anybody – except his fellow Mexicans in more modest provincial surroundings. Of course precedents in international architecture combining strong colours along with textured walls has occurred, first of all works designed by Luis Barragan(1902-88) rewarded for his contribution by the Pritzker Prize (in 1980) – also called the Nobel Prize of Architecture.
The architect of Sheraton Bilbao, Leggoreto (born in 1931) witnessed the notoriety of Barragan and happened to cooperate with this master on a hotel in Mexico City, while later taking over when clients in the US wanted to purchase a Barragan-like piece of architecture. During the years Leggoreta has in fact got his own reputation for perforated walls in exotic bright colours; so in case that speciality of his has attracted the rulers of Bilbao, they have got what they expected.
Judged from the outside the Sheraton hotel might as well have been a city hall with a bell-tower and an adjacent office block connected by a glazed entrance to the south some 5 storeys in height. Instead the impressive glass opening leads to a not less impressive atrium space some 30 metres in height crowned by a vault like an ancient Roman bath.
By carving out the hotel block like a sculptor Leggoreta is emptying what he might have imagined as a huge block of stone to introduce daylight to the interior of the building core – and in this respect the architect might have been inspired by Chillada, at least he by mentioning the name of that artist currently being the most famous sculptor in Spain on a cosy café next to the south entrance. Entering the lobby a more brownish hue of colour takes over while the stepped main entrance to the north is dominated by an ochre-coloured marble cladding. Mayor party or meeting rooms named after famous architects as Gehry, Foster and Pelli are concentrated on the first floor of the hotel connected to the lobby by a wide stony staircase. Next to the landing of this staircase minimalist glass and steel elevators penetrates the lofty lobby space being somewhat out of context by so evidently supporting technical and modernistic associations.
At the northern side of the 6th storey the guests of the hotel will find a surprisingly large outside pool integrated in the facade with great views to the green hills surrounding the city. The cavity of the external pool is emphasized by a shocking pink on its framing walls and ceiling. And since this facility is also lighted at night the pink recession has become the very trademark for the hotel and its services.
The corridors connecting the total of 200 bedrooms in 10 floors contain traces of the architectonic heritage of Mexican courtyards and veiled views stressing each corridor as different and interesting. Daylight comes through large openings to the south overlooking Dona Casilda Park moderated by a pink opening like the one on the opposite side of the building.
The hotel can offer almost 30 different types of bedrooms. The taste and love for different materials combined with the care in choosing their combinations seems ever present in building. The reddish travertine marble, unpolished and sealed, the lime stucco done by craftsmen imported from Southern Spain on the facades, the textured interior walls. Some attention was paid in choosing sucupira timber on some floors and red Brazilian cedar furniture as well as yellow onyx, primarily used for an enormous lamp in the bottom of the atrium but also for small lighting boxes throughout the interior giving warmth and extra colours to the many spaces.
Flemming Skude
FACTS:
Architects: Leggoreta, TDM Arquitectos
Site: Abandoibarra, Bilbo
Built: 2000-2004
