Renzo Piano's First Work in Spain

News Brief
Last month, Renzo Piano presented the design of his first work in Spain, the Botín Art Center in Santander. The project is sponsored by Emilio Botín, President of the Santander Bank, Spain's largest. The glass and ceramic-clad structure will project into the Santander Bay, and is scheduled to open in 2015. It will include 2500 m2 (25000 sf) of galleries and a wing dedicated to multicultural and educational activities. The head of the commission in charge of the center's artistic program is Vicente Todoli, former director of the Tate Modern, the Serralves Museum in Porto, Portugal and the IVAM in Valencia.

Source: ABC newspaper, Sept. 17, 2011

Update Jan. 12,. 2012
New information about the project can be found on SCALAE this month, reporting on an exhibit on the project in Santander and some of the criticism it has received.

The SCALAE page includes links to various videos about the project and from its critics, the catalog of the show, links to press coverage in Spanish. etc.

Update June 19, 2012:
The definitive project was unveiled in Santander today by Remzo Piano and Emilio Botin, as reported in El País: 

"...the cantilevered structure is literally suspended in the air to open to the sea, clad in 360,000 ceramic tiles the color of mother-of-pearl."

With public works projects halted throughout the country --Rem Koolhaas' Congress Center in Córdoba, cancelled last March, is the latest casualty -- the private sector steps in to take up some of the slack.