Laboral Ciudad de la Cultura occupies the monumental complex of the former Universidad Laboral de Gijón, designed by architect Luis Moya Blanco and built between 1948 and 1957 in the parish of Cabueñes. It began as a centre to educate the orphans of miners killed in workplace accidents, and since 2016 it has been protected as a monument, with the status of Bien de Interés Cultural.

Among its most distinctive features are a 130-metre tower, the tallest in Asturias; the church, with its enormous dome; and a 1,756-seat theatre, the first in Europe with full air conditioning. The Government of the Principality of Asturias took over management of the site in 2001, and today it brings together performance and exhibition spaces, a film archive and congress rooms.