Renzo Piano's Centro Botín Set to Open in Spain
John Hill
4. April 2017
Photo: Belén de Benito, courtesy of Fundación Botín
Centro Botín, the first building in Spain designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Renzo Piano, is complete and set to open 23 June 2017 as the permanent home of the Fundación Botín's art, cultural, and educational programs.
The building is located on a waterfront site in Santander, the capital of Spain's northern Cantabria region. Piano transformed a former car park into a 10,285-square-meter building raised above the ground on stilts to capture views of the bay. Wrapped surfaces of the two main volumes are clad in 270,000 ceramic discs that bring to mind Future Systems' Selfridges in Birmingham, England.
Inside are 2,500 square meters of exhibition space, a 300-seat auditorium, classrooms, work spaces, a restaurant, and a rooftop terrace. Outside, the site extends the adjacent Pereda Gardens with a design by Fernando Caruncho in concert with Renzo Piano Building Workshop.
Centro Botín will open in June with exhbitions on Carstel Höller, Goya, and works from Fundación Botín's permanent collection.
Photo: Belén de Benito, courtesy of Fundación Botín
