PAGE 1 | PAGE 2
Yet when the Guggenheim was mooted 10 years ago most of Bilbao thought it was crazy profligacy in desperate economic times. "I would say 99% of the population was against it," says Juan Luis Laskurain, director of the Chamber of Commerce. "They thought it megalomaniacal. I can modestly say I was in favor. We didn't have many other options."
Deputy Mayor Areso stresses that there's more to turning around a rustbelt city than a new museum. "We were forced to face changing from an industrial city to a postindustrial one. That doesn't mean we want to renounce industry, that's where our know-how is. But we had to see that this industry, now high-tech, wasn't going to generate [lots of] jobs. Wealth, yes. So we had to find areas — banking, communications, tourism — to distribute this wealth in the form of jobs. To attract people, you have to have the right surroundings and facilities."
To that end, Gehry's Guggenheim is one of Bilbao's smaller projects. The city also hired other big-name architects: Norman Foster designed its spanking new Metro, which cost nearly eight times as much as the $100 million it took to build the Guggenheim. Spain's Santiago Calatrava designed new airport facilities, plus an elegant, bow-shaped footbridge across the Nervión near the Guggenheim. Just reviving the river is costing about $500 million and modernizing the city's port is costing about as much again.
Where does all the cash come from? The port is paying for itself from its own revenues, and the airport is still under the control of central government in Madrid. Most of the rest comes from local taxes, and from Brussels in the form of grants to rustbelt areas. "To clean up the river, everyone has to pay an extra amount on their water bills," explains Areso. He adds that, while Bilbao's air is now breathable, there is still a long way to go to recover from decades of land and water pollution.
One example of postindustrial Bilbao is a firm called Panda. In Spanish, panda means a group of youngsters who hang around together. That fitted the plans of Mikel Urizarbarrena and, also an animal lover, he chose the Chinese bear for his logo. That was in 1990. Today, the 39-year-old graduate in mechanical engineering is president of Panda Software, the world's fourth-biggest antivirus company, with some 340 employees. Not bad for a business he started with $6,000 in capital. "When we began, computer viruses were mainly local and slow," he says. "So we designed an antivirus program for Spain, then made agreements with companies selling into here, like IBM."
That was a nice business, but by 1995 super-rapid macroviruses were developed, and Urizarbarrena's home-ground advantage disappeared. So he pioneered a much broader service, updating clients daily on new viruses and offering 24-hour technical advice. "There are about 600 new viruses in the world every month," he says. He has now franchised Panda's services in 37 countries and says 4 million people use his software, in 11 languages.
Why Bilbao? "The question is, why not," smiles Urizarbarrena. "I'm from here, the Basques are hardworking, well-prepared and have a very low staff turnover." He has built Panda without venture capital, and retains ownership together with his wife, Berta, and another Madrid-based partner. They forecast sales this year of $40 million, roughly double last year's. This panda is clearly no endangered species.
If Bilbao's attempt to reinvent itself stays on course, one day there may be bigger and better fish than muble in the river that runs not far below Urizarbarrena's busy offices, a river that not long ago looked to be like the city it flows through — headed for extinction.
BACK >>
PAGE 1 | PAGE 2
|
|
|
|
Iberian Connections
A count with a social conscience, flourishing ancient trades and folk-singing Irish pilgrims
Photo Gallery
Check out the photos from this leg of TIME's Fast Forward Europe voyage
Immigrant's Tale
An African from a former Portuguese colony is now a Lisbon architect with political aspirations
Bilbao Reborn
The Guggenheim museum is just a part of this rust belt city's renaissance
Dotcom Paradise
The Catalan capital is becoming a hive of young Networkers
It's Up to Us
Spanish footballer Josep Guardiola on the price of players and the need for cultural identity
Fine Art of Science
Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava's buildings echo the natural world
Language of Bridges
A Spanish-led team always has one more river to cross
'I Can Only Be Happy if My Neighbor Is Happy'
Missing family jewels are the last things on the mind of a modern Portuguese count
Engine of Change
The Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao has helped turn the region's economic fortunes around
Between Two Worlds
TIME talks with Roma journalist Joan Manuel Oleaque
People To Watch: Leire Pajin | Madredeus | Ariadna Gil
|
