BIG shapes a terraced culinary landscape in San Sebastián

Rafael CunhaARCHITECTURE3 weeks ago3.7K ViewsShort URL

Set against the rising terrain of Mount Ulia in San Sebastián, the Gastronomy Open Ecosystem by Bjarke Ingels Group and BAT Architecture rethinks the culinary campus as part civic infrastructure, part inhabitable landscape. Developed for the Basque Culinary Center, the 9,000 square metre complex extends the city’s public realm upward into a sequence of planted terraces, dissolving the boundary between architecture and topography.

Rather than imposing a singular object onto the hillside, the building unfolds as a layered terrain that can be climbed, crossed and occupied. Green roofs step gradually toward the skyline, forming urban orchards and open viewing platforms overlooking the Bay of Biscay. The project adopts the logic of a social landscape, where circulation, gathering and leisure become inseparable from the architectural form itself.

At the centre of the complex, a luminous gastro hall acts as both connective core and public theatre. A broad staircase threads through laboratories, kitchens, classrooms and collaborative workspaces, transforming movement through the building into a collective spatial experience. The atrium functions less as an internal corridor than as a vertical plaza, encouraging encounters between chefs, researchers, students and visitors.

The material palette draws from the industrial character of the Basque region. A modular façade of Corten steel and glass gives the building a shifting tactile presence, balancing heaviness and transparency. From the street, culinary experimentation becomes partially visible through the glazed surfaces, allowing the research activities inside to participate in the life of the city beyond.

Conceived as a multidisciplinary hub for food innovation, GOe accommodates culinary research, food technology startups and academic programmes within a highly adaptable framework. Laboratories and kitchens are designed for rapid transformation, supporting evolving methods of production and collaboration. Positioned along the Camino de Santiago, the building also operates as an open civic threshold, reinforcing San Sebastián’s longstanding relationship with gastronomy, exchange and public culture.