Botín Centre

Madrid, Spain. 2011-2017

The Botín Centre is conceived as a new space for art and culture. An open and relaxed centre that will perform the function of enriching, both socially and culturally, the public spaces of Santander.

Located in the very heart of the city, the project is centred around three main actions:

The first is freeing up an area that was previously a port and destined to be a car park and eliminating the road traffic, which isolated it, by building a tunnel.

The second consists of the enlargement of the hundred-years-old Pereda Gardens, doubling its area and extending it to the very shore of the bay so that nothing blocks the continuity between the historic centre and the port, making it possible to look again at the sea from the centre of Santander.

Finally, the third step is to “land” this art centre on the edge of the dock, projecting above the water like a small ship. A space destined for art, music, literature, education, and cultural exchange.

Under the characteristically grey skies of Santander, the building and its light-coloured ceramic coating, the play of reflections, and the lightness of the cantilevered volumes bring vitality to the landscape, creating brand new settings of the bay.

project sheet
  • Place/Date: Santander, Spain / 2011-2017
  • Client: Fundación Botín
  • Budget: 40 M €
  • Area: 107,640 sqft.
  • Architects: luis vidal + architects in association with Renzo Piano Building Workshop
  • Stage: Built
  • Team: Patricia Allona Krauel – Andoni Arrizabalaga – Marta Cumellas – Lucía de Molina Benavides – Sara del Piñal – David Fernández – David Fernández-Feito – Ester Fuente – Emilio García – Magdalena García de Durango – Raúl Gómez – Julio Isidro Lozano – Patricia Lozano – Manuel Martín Ribas – Humberto Martínez – Héctor Orden – Francisco Rojo – Irene Rojo – Antonio Sánchez Moliní – Carlos Sanz – Beatriz Sendín – Javier Torrado – Óscar Torrejón – Sol Uriart – Luis Vidal – Pablo Vila; Renzo Piano Building Workshop: Emanuela Baglietto – Francesca Becchi – Paola Carrera – Mark Carroll – Shunji Ishida – Simone Lafranconi – Margherita Menardo – Marco Monti – Alberto Morcelli – Raffaella Parodi – Renzo Piano – Sara Polotti – Luciano Simonelli – Ana Maria Zambrano Garza

Awards

  • IALD Merit Award 2019 - Asociación Internacional de Diseñadores de Rayos (IALD)