Cruise Ship Terminal in Bilbao / [baragaño]

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Text description provided by the architects. The Port of Bilbao, launches a competition at the end of 2009 in order to build the new Terminal of Cruise ships in Bilbao. A damp city, with a metallic memory, of shipyards, cranes, postindustrial areas, the suspension bridge of Portugalete. We start from a metallic orthogonal prism, and working in it, as it was a sculpture. The building starts to open to the sea, with it's large crystal facade.

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To the south, to the city, enclosure is much more opaque, framing the arrival square and attracting the northern light that comes in the building through the big skylights. The project starts to be structured in several containers with different volumes and length. The new Terminal runs in one floor, but it´s section is shaped by big skylights picking up northern light.

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We start to play with the idea of full and empty, by reference to the Basque sculptors , introducing the programme for the Terminal ins some of the containers, and keeping the empty space. Spaces where you can wait ship arrival. Wait: To remain in a place where is supposed that a person have to go or something must happen. We propose different spaces for different waiting forms.

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Outside we ordered the arrival space, the big parking, where several light lines illuminate the building, making it a reference from the city. In order to reduce construction time, we decide to make steel industrialized construction, building most part of the building in a factory, and transporting it by road from Asturias to Bilbao, where the building was assembled.

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