bilbao has always been known as the precedent of how architecture works as an urban acupuncture reviving a city from a comma. it is amazing how the government initiated and invested on architecture and the city planning.
many famous architects were assigned to design buildings in the city to change the industrialist city into a modern city for art and culture. out of all these architectural pieces, i was stunned mostly by the metro system, which was designed by sir norman foster. the metro, which only has two lines, was built with such elegant minimalistic style. the material is mainly concrete, the graphic element consists only of one red color as its theme, the station uses simple horizontal light along the corridor, and even the train was designed accordingly. it has to be the most gorgeous metro system in the world.
as a person who is usually not attracted by big fancy architectural pieces, i enjoyed bilbao the way it is. and even without the fancy architecture, i enjoyed walking the city in its art-deco-ish style that dominates the façade of the streets. combines with its geographical location and the rainy weather when i was there, the city was pleasing to the eye. my trip to bilbao was initially planned as some kind of an architectural pilgrimage visiting the guggenheim which has been one of the most famous icons of the industry. now let me say that bilbao is much more than just the guggenheim.
