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Centro Botin by Renzo Piano

Renzo Piano completes stilted art gallery on Santander waterfront

Thousands of shimmering ceramic discs cover the stilted volumes ofĀ Renzo Piano'sĀ Centro BotĆ­n art gallery, which stands on the docks in the Spanish city of Santander.

TheĀ Centro BotĆ­nĀ isĀ Renzo Piano Building Workshop's first building inĀ Spain, and is part of a wider redevelopment of Santander's Pereda Gardens.

ItĀ occupiesĀ aĀ former ferry car park in a newly created pieceĀ of the park, which was overhauled and extended byĀ landscape designer Fernando CarunchoĀ to a size of almost four hectares.

The 10,285-square-metre gallery is split across two D-shaped blocks and joined by an elevated walkway that cantilevers out over the sea.

The outer walls of the two blocks are covered in 270,000 ceramic plates intended to reflect the changing hues of the sea and sky, and huge curving windows set into their ends give views either to the gardens or water.

The metal staircases, stilted profile and grey-toned ceramic cladding lend the building an industrial quality.

Photograph by BelƩn de Benito

Centro BotĆ­n provides a permanent home for theĀ art collections, and cultural and educational programmes of the FundaciĆ³n BotĆ­n, which was set up in 1964 by the Botins ā€“ the same family behind Santander Bank.

Inside, there is 2,500 square metres of exhibition space, a 300-seat auditorium, as well asĀ classrooms and work spaces for the courses the centre runs in collaboration with Yale University. The building will also include aĀ restaurant, shop and rooftopĀ viewpoint.

Exhibition spaces are set over two levels in the larger of the two wings, while the smaller wing hosts education facilities.

A public plaza andĀ amphitheatreĀ are set on the piece of park surrounding the building,Ā which was created by rerouting an existing road through a 200-metre tunnel.

Photograph by Gerardo Vela

"Building on our work in the community over the last 50Ā years, our vision for Centro BotĆ­n is to be one of Spain's leading arts centres," said FundaciĆ³n BotĆ­n directorĀ IƱigo SĆ”enz de Miera, "a lively welcoming place for people to enjoy themselves, learn and become inspired, and an engine for generating economic, social and cultural wealth for the region of Cantabria and northern Spain."

Centro BotĆ­n will open on 23 June 2017 with three exhibitions: a selection of drawings by the Spanish artist Francisco de Goya, works from the permanent collection of FundaciĆ³n BotĆ­n and pieces by the Belgian artist Carsten HƶllerĀ all on show.

It is hoped the gallery will act as a new landmark for the city, attracting tourism and in turn boosting the area's economy ā€“ in a similar fashion to the Frank Gehry-designed Guggenheim gallery inĀ Bilbao.

Italian architectĀ Renzo Piano came in at number 22 on the Dezeen Hot list, a guide to the most read-about architects, designers and brands of the last year.

His studio recently revealed plans for a San Francisco skyscraper, and completed a neuroscience research facility at Columbia UniversityĀ in Manhattan.


Project credits:

Architects: Renzo Piano Building Workshop andĀ Luis Vidal + Architects
Client: FundaciĆ³n Botin

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