Santiago Calatrava
Encyclopedia : S : SA : SAN : Santiago Calatrava
Santiago Calatrava (born July 28, 1951) is a Spanish architect whose work has become increasingly popular worldwide.
Calatrava was born in 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. Calatrava was influenced by the French/Swiss architect Le Corbusier, whose Notre Dame du Haut chapel caused Calatrava to examine how complex form could be understood and generated in architecture. In 1981 after completing his doctoral thesis, "On the Foldability of Space Frames", he started his architecture and engineering practice.
Calatrava's unique, creative, and highly influential style combines a striking visual architectural style that interacts harmoniously with the rigid principles of engineering. His work often draws on form and structure found in the natural world, and can be described as anthropomorphic. His works have elevated the design of some civil engineering projects such as bridges to new heights. He has designed numerous train stations, heralded for their bright, open, and easily-traveled spaces.
While he is primarily known as an architect, Calatrava is also a prolific sculptor and painter, claiming that the practice of architecture combines all the arts into one.
Calatrava's first United States work was the Quadracci Pavilion addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum.
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 will be built in New York City's financial district facing the East River.
He has also designed the Fordham Spire, a proposed skyscraper to be built in Chicago.
Calatrava has also designed three bridges that will eventually span the Trinity River in Dallas, the first of which will commence construction in December, 2005. When completed (target date 2010), Dallas will join the Dutch county of Haarlemmermeer in having three Calatrava bridges.
Calatrava was awarded the Eugene McDermott Award in the Arts. The Award is among the country's most esteemed arts awards. Established to honor Eugene McDermott, founder of Texas Instruments and long-time friend and benefactor to MIT, the award was created by the Council for the Arts at MIT in 1974, and further endowed by Eugene's wife, Margaret. Since its inception, the Council has bestowed the award upon 31 individuals producing creative work in the performing, visual and media arts, as well as authors, art historians and patrons of the arts.
His nephew Alex Calatrava is a professional tennis player.
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, Toronto, Canada,
- 1989-1994, TGV Station, Lyon, France
- 1992, Puente del Alamillo, Seville, 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, USA
- 2003, James Joyce Bridge, bridge over River Liffey, Dublin, Ireland
- 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, Turning Torso, Malmö, Sweden
Under construction/Proposed
- World Trade Center Transportation Hub, New York City, USA
- Atlanta Symphony Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA
- TGV Train Station, Liège, Belgium
- Palacio de Congresos, Oviedo, Spain
- Fordham Spire, Chicago, USA
- Margaret Hunt Hill bridge, Dallas, Texas, USA
- City Entrance Bridge, also known as 'Strings Bridge' Jerusalem, Israel
- Eighty South Street, 835 foot tall stack of 10 condominum units on the East River, starting at $27 Million each. []
See also
Awards
- 2005 AIA Gold Medal
Exhibits
A special exhibition is being presented at the Metropolitan Museum of Art through March 5, 2006 [link]. [Images from the exhibition.]
External links
- [Official Website]
- [Santiago Calatrava News Aggregator]
- [Structurae: Santiago Calatrava Valls]
- [Great Buildings On-Line: Santiago Calatrava]
- [Unofficial website]
- [Extended profile of the architect in the NYRB, December 2005]
- [The New Yorker, October 31 2005, "The Sculptor"]
- [The Guardian, January 17th 2006, "The Gaudí Effect"]
- [Many pictures of Calatrava's Art on Trekearth]
- [Calatrava's 80 South Street condo design for New York]
- [120 meters Obelisk project in Madrid]
References
From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.