Museo Banco Santander

Overview

With its monumental archway, the Banco Santander headquarters forms a distinctive part of the city’s seafront overlooking the Jardines de Pereda and Santander Bay. Home to the financial services firm since 1923, the project opened up the building to the public, allowing it to become a more active part of the city’s social and cultural life. In its new role, the building has become the home for the Banco Santander collection and a place of changing exhibitions and events.

We provided façade consulting services to David Chipperfield Architects for the building's renovation, which was completed in 2023.

Highlights

• At the centre of the building is the iconic archway, which both defines and divides it. The design envisages the arch as a connector, establishing it as a central spine by partially enclosing the upper section.
• On top of the building, a new public pavilion and terrace hosts events and functions, while offering panoramic views over the bay and the city.
• Our façade services include remodelling the existing office building into a new museum. The existing façades consist of non-insulated solid brick walls with external “Piedra de Boñar.”
• We also performed thermal and condensation risk analysis to comply with Spanish regulations, timber frame window detailing, glazed arch support strategy and design and skylight glazing analysis.