San Sebastián Surprises
Such a quaint town in the Basque region of northern Spain world renowned for its astounding culinary scene, and the birthplace of artist Eduardo Chillida. One of the first things to experience is, The Wind Comb 1977.
Constantly eating and drinking in full merriment with friendly and inviting locals you can experience beautiful beaches as well as architectural intrigue to keep you busy on your daily excursions.
The city, and region, is loaded with historic architectural sites paired with new and innovative structures that have created an energetic atmosphere unexpected when first hearing of the destination. It quickly made us reflect on the architecture looking to make strides in achieving a cohesiveness between what was built and what is to be built.
The ispilu ainguratua (anchored mirror) by Robert La Tour d’Affair in 2001 is a location by the water we found on Architizer before going. It’s shown throughout the web as one of the top representations of architecture “hiding in plane sight." It was a clever use of space and materials integrating the surrounding terrain by way of mirrored panels. It’s certainly the most interesting public restroom, water closet, I have had the opportunity to use.
One of the most fascinating and interesting finds was the San Telmo Museum, which is the oldest in the Basque Region (early 20th century) houses the collections on the history of the Region and represents an architectural intervention we found exceptional.
The original structure was built in the 16th century and houses the cloister of San Telmo’s abbey, a Dominican convent. The restoration, performed by Sobejano Nieto Architects, was completed in 2011. It retained the original revered aesthetic throughout the cloisters, the church, the tower and the chapels. The stonework throughout the cloisters and through the church as they fully covered the exterior in perforated steel sheets for vegetation to begin growing through, allowing the it to merge with the mountain more naturally. Exhibitions focusing on ethnography, fine art, photography, archaeology and history were installed impeccably creating a flow to the experience weaving a common thread through the historical references and the newly worked spaces.
One item of importance that stood out personally was discovering the historic references to Picasso’s Guernica piece. The museum had a section within dedicated to history of the Basque region that showed the bombings of Gernika. Located in the Basque region of Spain it was bombed by Franco with assistance from the French and Germans killing local Spanish citizens on April 26, 1937. It was said to have been done by Franco as the citizens of the town were not living according to the laws and rules of the dictatorship. They were living freely and openly.
The museum is one in the area that we would say is a must see when visiting.
A quick site visit to the Iglesia de Iesu church, by Rafael Moneo, was also special. It was closed upon arrival, but we were able to walk the exterior and peer through the woodwork. Michael Webb, one of our favorite writers, said it best in his article in Architectural Review, “…box of light that draws on Iberian archetypes. Moneo designed an understated composition of white cubes for the parish center and church, with a basement supermarket to provide income and guarantee that this becomes a point of focus for the entire neighborhood.” Take a look at the photos picked up from the web that show better interior and exterior detail than we had the opportunity of capturing on the day we went.