Renzo Piano: The architect of light

A film to be seen at the cinema for every architecture enthusiast.

Il docufilm Renzo Piano: The architect of light.

A film to be seen to (re) learn about the philosophy and creative process of one of the best known Italian designers in the world, following one of his most recent projects, the Botín center in Santander in northern Spain.

Starting from the construction of the foundations up to the inauguration of the building, Carlos Saura, the Spanish director of the film on Renzo Piano, describes the Italian architect through the creative process under way during the works that saw the Renzo Piano Building Workshop at the flank of Luis Vidal Arquitectos. The director entertains with the famous Italian architect an intense dialogue on art, the creative process and the social function of beauty, defining the true central theme of the documentary dedicated to Renzo Piano.

History and place

Opened in June 2017, the center is the main exhibition venue of the Botín Foundation, a philanthropic institution founded in 1964 by the Botín family, owner of Banco Santander. Part of a larger urban redevelopment project, the building was designed to display works from the foundation’s art collection as well as temporary exhibitions, film screenings, live shows and educational programs linked to various artistic disciplines.

The new Botín Center is located in the center of the waterfront of Santander, a Spanish city of 170,000 inhabitants and capital of the Cantabria region. A 5-kilometer stretch of the city’s waterfront is currently undergoing renovation on the basis of an ambitious master plan, developed by the Arup studio, which aims to transform the city into one of the cultural and tourist capitals of the transnational macro-region of the Gulf of Biscay.