The opening completes a nine-year transformation of a closed banking headquarters into a major public museum and offers a strong Spanish adaptive-reuse case study about retaining civic memory while radically changing access and use.
Historic Edificio Pereda, Paseo de Pereda, Santander, Cantabria, Spain
About this story
Faro Santander converts Banco Santander's historic waterfront headquarters into a museum and cultural center operated through Fundación Banco Santander. David Chipperfield's intervention preserves the building's architectural identity while transforming its previously closed, security-driven organization into a publicly accessible institution for art, technology, cultural exchange and civic gathering.
Status and timeline
Officially inaugurated September 7, 2026, and now open to visitors.
Design highlights
Adaptive reuse of a monumental financial building; preservation without freezing the building in time; opening a historically closed institution to the city; new public circulation and cultural use within retained historic fabric.
