“Emilio Botín loved fishing, and I loved sailing. For years, both of us had practiced two skills that united us: the exercise of waiting and patient observation of the sea. This project owes a lot to the long moments spent watching the sun shimmering on the sea. That radiance that is profoundly part of the imagination of those born and raised by the sea”.
2017, Santander, Spain. The Centro Botín, a space for art, culture and education, thrusting into the bay of Santander, restores to the city the extensive dockland area of the Albareda wharf, previously used as a parking lot. A strategic area, overlooking the sea, close to the historic center and enhanced by the ancient Jardines de Pereda. Hemmed in between the park and the sea, and aligned with the public market, the new Centro Botín rests half on the ground with the other half suspended over the water. How to raise a 5,000-ton building off the ground. The work on light and its reflections: the choice of ceramics.
The tenth monograph of the Renzo Piano Foundation was published in 2018 and tells through images, sketches, testimonies, models, and prototypes the entire path that was taken for the creation of the Botín Center.