Nerua Restaurant / ACXT

Architects: ACXT
Location: Museo Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spain
Architect In Charge: César Caicoya Gómez-Morán
Design Team: Beatriz Pagoaga, Oscar da Costa
Project Year: 2011
Photographs: Aitor Ortiz

Facilities: Lorena Muñoz
Telecommunications: Aritz Muñoz
Structure: Xabier Gonzalo
Measurements And Quotation: Agurtzane Insa
Site Supervision: Agurtzane Insa

The project involves the restructuring of the museum cafeteria, exclusive to visitors, and its surroundings (hall, washrooms and preparation area) into a high standing restaurant, open also to the public and with a capacity for 40 diners.

The work was taken on with a clear objective: the space had to represent chef Josean Alija’s culinary style; it had to be a true reflection of his creative processes.

Therefore, one goes up an impressive stone staircase (approved by Frank O. Gehry) that leads into a titanium hallway. From here, one accesses the locale which is shared by the kitchen, visible and visitable, and the restaurant, both in a unique last generation spatial ambiance. Maple wood and lacquered sheet are also shared, the latter being pierced in the restaurant to allow light, air conditioning and sound through and smooth and plain in the kitchen and the extractors.

The generated ambiance transmits simplicity, excellence and elegance.

Nerua got his first Michelin Star just six months after its inauguration.