Renzo Piano Building Workshop’s Stilted Art Museum Stands Up in Spain

Renzo Piano’s first project in Spain is set to officially open on Friday, June 23. The Italian architect’s Centro Botín is a 10,285-square-meter [110,700-square-foot] landmark art museum designed in the firm’s signature style for the waterfront in Santander, a city on the country’s northern coast.

Built to house one of Spain’s preeminent private cultural foundations, Fundación Botín, the building features a stilted construction raised above the ground of a former ferry parking lot. The futuristic-looking structure is separated into two distinct D-shaped volumes that cantilever over the sea and connect via a multilevel metal walkway. The building’s shell is covered with 270,000 ceramic discs that reflect the changing colors of the sea and sky.

The project features curved, double-height windows that allow visitors to gaze over the bay or the historic Pereda Gardens, an area that links the waterfront to the center of the city. The gardens have recently been restored and extended by landscape designer Fernando Caruncho in partnership with Renzo Piano Building Workshop. Now double their original size at nearly 10 acres, the gardens offer a beautiful new public space perfect for displaying public art.

Centro Botín includes 2,500 square meters [26,900 square feet] of exhibition galleries, a 300-seat auditorium, classrooms, work spaces, two restaurants, a shop and roof terrace. The exhibition spaces will be displayed over two levels in the larger volume, while the smaller structure will house educational facilities.

The museum will open with three major exhibitions featuring Spain’s first show dedicated to Carsten Höller, drawings by Francisco de Goya and works from the permanent contemporary art collection of Fundación Botín. A permanent sculpture intervention by Cristina Iglesias will be installed to mark the opening of the building.

Images via Renzo Piano Building Workshop