Santiago Calatrava Totally Explained

Everything about Santiago Calatrava totally explained

Santiago Calatrava Valls (born July 28, 1951) is an internationally recognized and award-winning Spanish architect, sculptor and structural engineer whose principal office is in Zurich, Switzerland. Classed now among the elite designers of the world, he's offices in Zurich, Paris, New York and elsewhere.

Early life & education

Calatrava was born in Benimámet, a rural part of Valencia, Spain, where he pursued undergraduate studies at the Architecture School and Arts and Crafts School. Following graduation in 1975, he enrolled in the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, Switzerland for graduate work in civil engineering. In 1981, after completing his doctoral thesis, "On the Foldability of Space Frames", he started his architecture and engineering practice.

Career

Calatrava's early career was dedicated largely to bridges and train stations, the designs for which elevated the status of civil engineering projects to new heights. His elegant and daring Montjuic Communications Tower in Barcelona, Spain (1991) in the heart of the 1992 Olympic site was a turning point in his career, leading to a wide range of commissions. The Quadracci Pavilion (2001) of the Milwaukee Art Museum was his first US building. Calatrava’s entry into high-rise design began with an innovative 54 storey high twisting tower, called Turning Torso (2005), located in Malmö, Sweden.
Calatrava is currently designing the future train station - World Trade Center Transportation Hub - at Ground Zero in New York City.
Calatrava’s style has been heralded as bridging the division between structural engineering and architecture. In this, he continues a tradition of Spanish modernist engineering that includes Félix Candela and Antonio Gaudí. Nonetheless, his style is very personal and derives from numerous studies he makes of the human body and the natural world.

Calatrava as sculptor

Calatrava is also a prolific sculptor and painter, claiming that the practice of architecture combines all the arts into one. In 2005, the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City held an exhibition of his artistic work, entitled "Santiago Calatrava: Sculpture Into Architecture." Exhibitions of his work have also taken place in Germany, England, Spain, Italy and elsewhere.

Recognition

Calatrava has received numerous recognitions. In 1990 he received the "Médaille d´Argent de la Recherche et de la Technique", Paris. In 1992 he received the prestigious Gold Medal from the Institution of Structural Engineers. In 1993, the Museum of Modern Art in New York held a major exhibition of his work called “Structure and Expression." In 1998 he was elected to become a member of "Les Arts et Lettres," in Paris. In 2004, he received the Gold Medal from the American Institute of Architects (AIA).
In 2005, Calatrava was awarded the Eugene McDermott Award by the Council for the Arts of MIT. The Award is among the most esteemed arts awards in the US. Image:BCE Place Galleria Toronto Panorama 2002 cropped.jpg|The interior of the BCE Place Galleria, Toronto, Canada (1992). Image:Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències - L'Umbracle.jpg|L'Umbracle at the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia, Spain (1996). Image:Hemispheric - Valencia, Spain - Jan 2007.jpg|Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Valencia, Spain (1996). Image:Milwaukee-Art-Museum.JPG|Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA (2001) Image:Gare Oriente Lisboa.JPG |Estação do Oriente, Lisbon, Portugal (1998) Image:Light City.jpg | Estação do Oriente in Lisbon, Portugal (1998) Image:The Turning Torso, Malmo.JPG|Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden (2005) Image:Montjuic_Communications_Tower.jpg|Montjuic Communications Tower in Barcelona, Spain (1992)

Recent projects

One of his newest projects is a residential skyscraper named 80 South Street after its own address, composed of 10 townhouses in the shape of cubes stacked on top of one another. The townhouses move up a main beam and follow a ladder-like pattern, providing each townhouse with its own roof. The "townhouse in the sky" design has attracted a high profile clientele, willing to pay the hefty US$30 million for each cube. It is planned to be built in New York City's financial district facing the East River.
He has also designed the approved skyscraper, the Chicago Spire, in Chicago. Originally commissioned by Chicagoan Christopher Carley, Irish developer Garrett Kelleher purchased the building site for the project in July of 2006 when Carley's financing plans fell through. Construction of the building began in August 2007 for completion in 2011. When completed, the Chicago Spire, at 2,000 feet tall, will be the tallest building in North America.
Calatrava has also designed three bridges that will eventually span the Trinity River in Dallas. Construction of the first bridge, named after donor Margaret Hunt Hill, has been repeatedly delayed due to high costs, a fact that has sparked much controversy and criticism. If and when completed, Dallas will join the Dutch county of Haarlemmermeer in having three Calatrava bridges.

Criticism

Calatrava's work in Bilbao has been criticized for impracticality. The airport lacks facilities and the bridge's glass tiles are prone to break and getting slippery under the local weather. In 2007, Calatrava sued Bilbao for allowing Arata Isozaki to remove a bar from the bridge to connect it to the Isozaki Atea towers. The judge ruled against Calatrava saying that, although the building design is protected by intellectual rights laws, public concerns prevail over intellectual property.
Calatrava gifted the Municipality of Venice with the project of a new bridge on the "Canal Grande" in 1996. As of 2007, the project is still under construction and it has gone though numerous structural changes because of the mechanical instability of the structure and the excessive weight of the bridge, which would cause the bank of the canal to fail. In 10 years the project has been inspected by more than 8 different consultants and the cost has raised up to three times the original expectations; however the work hasn't been finished yet.

Notable works

Completed

Trinity Bridge, footbridge over River Irwell, Salford, England
Oberbaumbrücke, Berlin, Germany
Alameda Bridge and metro station, Valencia, Spain
1983-1984, Jakem Steel Warehouse, Munchwilen, Switzerland
1983-1985, Ernsting Warehouse, Coesfeld, Germany
1983-1988, Wohlen High School, Wohlen, Switzerland
1983-1990, Stadelhofen Railway Station, Zürich, Switzerland
1983-1989, Lucerne Station Hall, Lucerne, Switzerland
1984-1987, Bac de Roda Bridge, Barcelona, Spain
1984-1988, Barenmatte Community Center, Suhr, Switzerland,
1986-1987, Tabourettli Theater, Basel, Switzerland,
1987-1992, BCE Place (atrium), Toronto, Canada,
1989-1994, TGV Station, Lyon, France
1992, Puente del Alamillo, Seville, Spain
1992, Puente de Lusitania, Mérida, Spain
1992, Montjuic Communications Tower at the Olympic Ring, Barcelona, Spain
1992, World's Fair, Kuwaiti Pavilion, Seville, Spain
1994-1997, Campo Volantin Footbridge, Bilbao, Spain
1996, Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències, Valencia, Spain
1998, Estação do Oriente or (Gare do Oriente), Lisbon, Portugal
1998, Puente de la Mujer, in the Puerto Madero barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina
2000, New terminal at Bilbao Airport, Bilbao, Spain
2001, Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.
2003, James Joyce Bridge, bridge over River Liffey, Dublin, Ireland
2003, the architect’s first performing arts facility, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain
2004, redesign of Athens Olympic Sports Complex, Athens, Greece
2004, Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay, Redding, California, USA
2004, Three bridges (called Harp, Cittern and Lute) spanning the main canal of the Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands
2004, University of Zurich, "Bibliothekseinbau" library remodelling, Zürich, Switzerland
2005, The bridge connecting the Ovnat shopping mall and the Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson) in Petah Tikva, Israel
2005, Turning Torso, Malmö, Sweden
2007, 3 Bridges on the A1 Motorway and TAV Railway, Reggio Emilia, Italy

Under construction/proposed

World Trade Center Transportation Hub, New York City, U.S.

Atlanta Symphony Center, Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

Liège-Guillemins TGV Railway Station, Liège, Belgium

Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos, Oviedo, Spain

Chicago Spire, Chicago, U.S.

Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, Dallas, Texas, U.S.

City Entrance Bridge, also known as 'Chords Bridge' Jerusalem, Israel

80 South Street, 835 foot tall stack of 10 condominium units on New York City's East River, starting at $27 Million each. (External Link

)

Medio Padana TAV Station, Reggio Emilia, Italy

Piazzale Roma Footbridge over the Grand Canal, Venice, Italy

Campus, Maastricht, Netherlands

Palma de Mallorca's Opera, Spain

High-rise buildings on stilts on the River Liffey in Dublin (External Link

) Calatrava has also submitted designs for a number of notable projects which were eventually awarded to other designers, including the Reichstag in Berlin and the East London River Crossing. Image:view_jaffa_big2.jpg|View of the Chords bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem, currently under construction as part of the Jerusalem Light Rail (Mass Transit) Project. Proposed completion: 2008 Image:PATH WTC Station.jpg|The future transit hub at the World Trade Center site in New York City, to be completed in 2009. This is an early rendering. The project being built has much shorter spires. Image:Chicago Spire.jpg|Calatrava's 2,000 feet (610 m) tall skyscraper the Chicago Spire in Chicago, formerly named the Fordham Spire, will be the tallest building in North America when it opens in 2010.

Never built

1991 Collserola communications Tower in Barcelona. A tower shaped like a big white spaceship was proposed, but Norman Foster ultimately designed the tower.

A campus building for Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada. His design was dropped for a less expensive design(External Link

New Cathedral for the Diocese of Oakland, California, USA. Preliminary design dropped in favor of that by local architect Craig Hartman (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, San Francisco).

Awards

1979 August Perret Award

1992 London Institution of Structural Engineers Gold Medal

1993 Toronto Municipality Urban Design Award

1996 Gold Medal for Excellence in the Fine Arts from the Granada Ministry of Culture

1999 Prince of Asturias Award in Arts

2000 Algur H. Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts from the Meadows School of the Arts, Southern Methodist University

2006 Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts from the Council for the Arts at MIT,(Massachusetts Institute of Technology)

2006 Honorary Engineering Degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

2005 AIA Gold Medal

Designation as a Global Leader for Tomorrow by the World Economic Forum in Davos

2007 Awarded with the Spanish National Architecture Award

Exhibits

A special exhibition has been presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through March 5, 2006 (External Link

). Images from the exhibition.

Personal life

His nephew Alex Calatrava is a professional tennis player.
His two sons have or are in the process of getting advanced degrees in Engineering from the Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science at Columbia University in New York City.

Further Information

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