GOe, San Sebastián’s new gastronomic ecosystem: everything you need to know

GOe – Gastronomy Open Ecosystem is rising in the Gros district of Donostia/San Sebastián as the second home of the Basque Culinary Center (BCC). Conceived as an urban hub that brings together research, advanced training, foodtech entrepreneurship, and citizen-facing activities, GOe aims to turn San Sebastián into a world benchmark for gastronomic innovation—without losing the local soul that made the city famous. Below is a clear, friendly, and forward-looking overview of why GOe exists, how it relates to the BCC, who designed it, what it will do, and why it has sparked debate.

Why GOe—and how it grew out of the Basque Culinary Center

Since its opening in 2011, the Basque Culinary Center has become an international reference in culinary education and research. That success revealed a new ambition: open gastronomy to the city and accelerate its links with science, technology, business creation, and public engagement. GOe is that next step. While the BCC’s Miramón campus will continue to focus on undergraduate studies and a broad portfolio of master’s programs, GOe is designed as an open ecosystem in the city: a place where chefs and scientists, students and entrepreneurs, companies and neighbors meet to prototype the future of food.

The idea took shape through an international architecture competition. In 2022 the winning proposal—“Olatuen Bidea / Path of the Waves”—was announced, signed by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), one of the most influential architecture practices today. Choosing BIG signaled the project’s strategic reach: GOe is not just a facility; it is also an Urban icon for a city that has long intertwined culinary excellence and cultural innovation.

What GOe will actually do: a hybrid program

GOe is neither “just a school” nor “just an events venue.” It’s a hybrid program with six complementary pillars:

1. Research & Development
   Experimental kitchens and scientific labs will explore health and nutrition, sustainability (waste reduction, circularity, new proteins), sensoriality (textures, aromas, experiences), food technology (processing, preservation, traceability), and digitalization (AI, data, modeling, 3D printing). The goal is to translate global challenges—health, climate, resources—into practical solutions that can scale.
2. Advanced education and lifelong learning
   GOe will host specialized master’s degrees and short, hands-on programs focused on the gastronomy of tomorrow: innovation, food design, sustainable management, culinary science. This complements Miramón’s undergraduate degree by offering targeted upskilling for professionals and career changers.
3. Entrepreneurship and foodtech
   Dedicated incubation and acceleration spaces will support startups with expert mentoring, access to investment, and coworking. GOe aims to be a business springboard where ideas move from lab bench or test kitchen to market-ready products and services—creating qualified jobs and new companies rooted in San Sebastián.
4. Industry services and open innovation
   Companies—local producers and global food groups alike—will find a platform for pilot projects, product co-creation, consulting, and in-company training. The intent is to stitch together high cuisine, science, and industry so innovations can be tested, iterated, and deployed quickly.
5. Events and outreach
   With an auditorium and flexible spaces, GOe will host congresses, demos, trade gatherings, talks, and professional workshops, as well as public activities. This enriches the city’s annual calendar and attracts international talent beyond peak tourist seasons.
6. A public-facing ground floor
   GOe’s street level is designed to be open to everyone. Expect educational workshops (for kids, families, seniors), exhibitions, and potentially a casual gastro space. The aim: share food culture and foster healthier, more sustainable habits—turning expertise into everyday value for neighbors.

The architecture: “Path of the Waves” by Bjarke Ingels Group

Set near Zurriola beach and the slopes of Mount Ulia, the building offers a striking but sensitive response to its setting. BIG’s signature move is a walkable green roof that rises like a gentle wave, extending the hillside over the building. This makes the roof a public belvedere—a place to stroll, sit, and take in views of the city and the sea. Instead of a closed “object,” GOe appears as an inhabited topography, threaded with pedestrian paths that keep the neighborhood connected.

This gesture tackles two urban design goals at once:

• Fitting a major civic facility into a residential fabric without severing existing routes, and even adding new walkable connections.
• Restoring green presence in the urban core: the planted roof contributes to insulation, rainwater management, and a more balanced visual footprint.

Daylight, energy efficiency, and measured scale guide the facades and interior layouts. GOe does not seek height for its own sake; its landmark quality comes from form and permeability, not from a skyline grab. At street level, a new public plaza and welcoming ground floor underscore the project’s central promise: this is not a fortress of experts but an invitation.

Why GOe matters to San Sebastián

GOe aligns with a city strategy that combines economy, culture, community, and global image.

• Jobs and activity: A hub like this mobilizes highly skilled roles—research, culinary innovation, technology, event production, management—and creates indirect employment in services, hospitality, communications, and local supply chains.
• International positioning: Donostia is already a culinary capital. GOe strengthens the city’s leadership on the innovation front, helping to attract students, researchers, entrepreneurs, and high-value events all year round.
• Local multiplier: The hub fuels cooperation among universities, tech centers, producers, artisans, and restaurateurs. Expect tangible outcomes—new products, better practices, stronger skills—rippling through the local ecosystem.
• Food culture for everyone: Public programs help raise food literacy (health, seasonality, waste reduction), deepen ties to land and sea, and valorize the Basque culinary heritage in contemporary ways.

Touristically, GOe isn’t a traditional sightseeing draw, yet it enriches the visitor experience with demos, exhibitions, talks—and that roof-park likely to become a beloved viewpoint. As gastronomy-driven travel keeps growing, an open, contemporary facility minutes from the beach is a distinctive plus for San Sebastián.

The controversy: public land, green space, neighborhood scale—and responses

As with any large urban project, GOe has faced local pushback, centered on three themes:

1. Use of public land
   Critics question dedicating a public plot to an equipment linked to the BCC, arguing for alternative uses (health facilities, housing, youth services). Project backers note the site’s public-facility zoning and frame GOe as a public-interest service in education, research, innovation, and cultural outreach.
2. Perceived loss of green space
   Some residents fear the removal of trees and the loss of a “last green lung” in this corner of Gros. In response, the design emphasizes the accessible green roof, the creation of a new public plaza, replanting/compensation strategies, and an overall aim for a positive landscape and usage balance once the building is open.
3. Integration and daily life
   Concerns include traffic, visitor flows, and shadows along the Camino de Santiago coastal route that passes nearby. The project addresses this with pedestrian permeability, moderated massing, and a lively, open ground floor—so the building shares space rather than monopolizing it. Operational adjustments and programming choices can further fine-tune impacts after opening.

Legal challenges followed the planning approvals; subsequent court validation of the project provided clarity and momentum. Beyond legalities, the real task now is to include and reassure: deliver on public uses, keep the ground floor genuinely open, monitor impacts (mobility, noise, crowding), and correct course where needed.

San Sebastián has seen intense urban debates before—think of the Kursaal—followed by successful public embrace once projects come to life. The hope is that GOe follows a similar arc: robust discussion in design stages, then shared use and eventual local pride as the building proves its worth.

Aligned with global culinary trends

GOe dovetails with several structural shifts reshaping food:

• Health & nutrition: From prevention and culinary education to personalized nutrition and evidence-based menu design.
• Sustainability: Short supply chains, valorization of byproducts, energy sobriety, new proteins, and updated takes on traditional recipes through an ecological lens.
• Technology & data: AI for recipe creation and optimization, 3D food printing, traceability, transparency, and digital tools for training and operations.
• Experience & culture: Food experience design, art–science crossovers, and inclusive cultural mediation for all audiences.
• International networks: Links with other hubs—including in Japan—to share talent, methods, and projects, accelerating the spread of good practices and enabling global piloting.

The throughline is clear: make Donostia a global node of applied culinary knowledge—from fundamental research to market-ready innovation—while keeping the Basque identity (landscape, sea, producers, gastronomic societies) as both resource and inspiration.

What GOe could change—concretely

• For professionals: Spaces to prototype faster (products, services, restaurant formats), access to scientific resources, mentoring, and networks.
• For students & researchers: Bridges between education, lab, and industry; international mobility; real-world projects with measurable impact.
• For residents: Regular workshops (cooking, health, sustainability), cultural activities, an everyday-friendly ground floor, and a roof promenade to enjoy.
• For the city: Stronger visibility, off-season events, a boost in startup creation, and a tighter weave among public and private actors.

Looking ahead

As construction advances, GOe is set to become a contemporary landmark in Gros. Its strength won’t be image alone, but its capacity to connect: connect Basque culinary excellence to health and ecology challenges; connect academia to real-economy needs; connect visitors and neighbors around a shared idea—eat well, understand what we eat, and innovate without losing our roots.

If there’s one takeaway, it’s this: GOe turns gastronomy into an urban common good. A place to learn, invent, and transmit—and to take a walk—so Donostia continues to be a world capital of flavor, creativity, and knowledge.

Key takeaways (at a glance)

• What is GOe? An urban gastronomic ecosystem: research, education, startups, events, and public activities.
• By whom? Led by the Basque Culinary Center, with architecture by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG).
• Where? Gros, near Zurriola beach and Mount Ulia, in Donostia/San Sebastián.
• For whom? Professionals, students, researchers, entrepreneurs—and residents, thanks to an open ground floor and a walkable green roof.
• Why now? To accelerate culinary innovation at the crossroads of health, sustainability, and digitalization, while strengthening the city’s global standing.

Author: Descubre Donostia