Bjarke Ingels Group has unveiled a striking modular building, the Gastronomy Open Ecosystem, a new research facility for the Basque Culinary Center (BCC), developed in collaboration with BAT Architecture. This new ecosystem connects gastronomy, knowledge, and innovation with both professionals and the public, transcending the boundaries of traditional training. The design of Gastronomy Open Ecosystem illustrates BIG’s design philosophy, emphasizing a fluid, responsive relationship between architecture and landscape.
Extension of the Basque Culinary Center
The Basque Culinary Center (BCC), established 16 years ago by Mondragon University and a consortium of Basque chefs, was designed by Spanish architects VAUMM.
The building features a U-shaped plan and facades clad in perforated metal panels, resembling a stack of dishes. The new design for the Gastronomy Open Ecosystem is not merely an extension of the existing center but a new research facility that responds to the demand for high-speed innovation, entrepreneurship, and sustainable solutions within the global food system.
The Gastronomy Open Ecosystem’s mission focuses on contributing to a “delicious future”. The building serves as a technological hub for leading cutting-edge research in areas such as sustainability, health, digitalization, sensory analysis, and culinary innovation.
It also offers entrepreneur support, including incubation and acceleration programs, mentoring, and co-creation hubs for startups, researchers, and food companies, aiming to generate real, applicable solutions.
BIG’s Winning Vision
Winning an international architectural competition, BIG’s proposal, titled “Olatuen bidea – Path of the Waves”, reflects a strong institutional commitment to sustainable design and urban integration through architectural expression. Spanning 9,000 square meters, the symbolic wave-like modular structure is strategically located at the base of Mount Ulia, near Zurriola Beach.
The five-storey building is an architectural extension of the landscape and cityscape of San Sebastián, connecting the open ecosystem with the art and science of gastronomy. Its fluid, curvilinear geometry transforms the roof into a public space, realizing the vision of freeing the ground plane and creating park-like terraces above. Inspired by flysch formations found along the Basque coastline, the architectural language grounds the structure aesthetically and culturally in its regional identity.
Designing around the concept of flexibility, the programmatic modularity responds to the rapidly evolving nature of food science and technology. The core functional spaces, such as the kitchens, laboratories, and classrooms, can be easily reconfigured to accommodate diverse needs. Adaptable fit-outs, demountable walls, and movable laboratory infrastructure further defined the flexibility of the layout. The spatial hierarchy unfolds through a gradient of pink hues, subtly referencing the stages of cooked meat: rare, medium, and well-done.
The internal spaces surrounding the Gastro hall run from the entrance to the roof, featuring a sculptural staircase that connects to laboratories, prototype kitchens, and classrooms. The element is the central staircase, serving a dual purpose as stepped seating for lectures, events, and interactive gatherings. This design decision fosters visual transparency, allowing visitors to observe culinary activities and research areas. The interiors utilize natural surfaces such as wood and stone, which complement the glass facade and blur the boundaries between the technological interiors and the green, public exterior.
Architecture as an Extension of Landscape
The project serves as an urban ecological corridor, integrating 3,600 square meters of landscaped space, which includes 1,329 square meters situated on the green roof and an additional 2,271 square meters within the surrounding development. To enhance the local biodiversity and ecological function, the landscape features 7,500 plants covering 51 distinct species.
Visitors enter via the walkable roof, which unfolds as a series of outdoor terraces gently rising towards the nearby sea, transforming the building into a public extension of San Sebastián’s Gros neighborhood.
This design approach directly aligns the green infrastructure with the institution’s core research mission of gastronomic sustainability. Ingel noted that the fusion of “gastronomy and technology, city and landscape, building and park” positions the Gastronomy Open Ecosystem as a global destination for culinary innovation from around the world.
Photo Credits: © Basque Culinary Center, BAT Architecture
