AITA AGIRRE BUILDING, ELGOIBA

client

Elgoibar Town Council

Location

Elgoibar, Basque Country, Spain

Area

2443,69 m²

Status

Completed

Type

Cultural / Rehabilitation

The rehabilitation of the former Aita Agirre schools transforms the historic building into a new cultural centre for Elgoibar, recovering a place linked to the collective memory of the city. The intervention recognizes the value of the existing construction and preserves the original stone walls as the building’s boundary and presence, while the interior is emptied to make way for a new architecture capable of adapting to contemporary uses.

The project organizes the spaces through a flexible structure that connects the different areas of the programme and allows for a continuous relationship between cultural activities. The distribution of uses establishes a progressive transition from Aita Agirre Square towards the interior of the building, moving from the most public and open spaces to areas of greater privacy as one ascends through the upper floors.

The new intervention seeks to balance memory and transformation, preserving the identity of the existing building while incorporating current solutions for efficiency and sustainability. The stone, the scale, and the historic presence of the former schools coexist with a renewed interior organization, creating a space where past and present become part of the same architecture.