PERFORMING ARTS CENTER MUXIKEBARRI AND MUSIC SCHOOL

The insertion of the designed object clashes with the convergence of different factors: the outstanding presence of Saint Nichola's church and the adjoining plaza with the annex building of the former town hall, the intricate identity of the residential volumes around, the harsh party Wall of the telecommunications building and the oblique crossing of two marked local arteries. They are all joined together on this singular scenery of intense social and cultural connotations.

As a whole, the existing ensemble constitutes a balcony facing south to the Bay and the port of Bilbao (the Abra), crowded with a concerned audience. Thus, the arrangement of the containers for the complex required programme acquires maximal importance.

Its skyline showsa last and precious opportunity, an open unocccupied window struggling across the fierce ompetition:in a natural way, its place is immediately taken by the ascending foyer of the new Auditórium.

The volumes, both visible and hidden, are the result of the balance between the diverse surrrounding requests and the expanding impulse of the crowded programming they contain.

So, the main volumen of the Auditórium leans onto the mute party Wall of the adjoining Telefonica building, whereas the free standing smaller one, hosting the Municipal Music School, is adjusted to the scale of the residential surroundings, thus lightening the visual perception of the omplex. This volumen also covers the main Access to the Auditórium and the new open space generated behind by the ascending foyer, which is conceived as a great scaffolding to give accesss to the different Access levels to the hall, while providing a panoramic view and showing its own presence to the Abra.

The flat glazings on the facade makes a doublé-lay system which inserts its structural buttress from within, fixed by galvanised mechanisms. In the southern face, it acts as a ventilation device for termal regulation and, in the northern one, as an accoustic correction mechanism.

The wrapping is generated by the adoption of an oak finger-joint wooden slats sytem (drawn from the 40x20 cm standard profie) optimised in two pieces (as it is severed diagonally, widh Works as a heat sink and streches out to the whole as a unique on-site impression.

more