Azkuna Zentroa (Alhóndiga Bilbao)
Tucked into the Abando neighbourhood, Azkuna Zentroa is a converted 1909 wine warehouse that Philippe Starck transformed into one of the most inventive cultural centres in Europe. The jaw-dropping interior courtyard features 43 columns, each one clad in a completely different material and style — Roman, Egyptian, industrial, organic — holding up a glass-bottomed swimming pool that you can look up
The Architecture
Starck described the columns as a 'forest of history' — you'll find one wrapped in tree bark, another in hammered copper, one mimicking a Doric temple pillar, another that appears to be made of human torsos. It's provocative, playful and completely unlike anything else in Spain.
The glass pool on the roof level is genuinely used as a public swimming pool — local swimmers do laps while daylight filters through the water onto the atrium below, creating rippling blue light patterns on the stone floor.
What's Inside
Beyond the spectacle, Azkuna Zentroa functions as a real neighbourhood hub: it houses a cinema showing arthouse and independent films, a public library, fitness facilities, a rooftop terrace bar and rotating free art exhibitions in its ground-floor galleries.
The basement food hall has some of the best affordable lunch options in central Bilbao — look for the Basque cider bar and the fresh pasta counter that fills up with office workers at 13:30.
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