Santiago calatrava projects portrait
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Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava on light and space
Santiago Calatrava. Portrait by Jacqueline Roberts
The beauty and purity of form of Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava’s buildings around the world belie the marvels of engineering that he brings to his show-stopping designs, as well as sometimes the controversies over budget overspends, design flaws and construction delays. But, as Mark C. O’Flaherty finds when he speaks to the architect, his extravagant vision never loses sight of each project’s singular purpose
Few things truly warrant the term ‘sensational’. Santiago Calatrava’s architecture demands it. You don’t look at his structures, you experience them. He engineers a feeling. Each project has its own potent energy, from the exhilarating elongated archery bows of his Puente de la Mujer in Buenos Aires and Samuel Beckett Bridge in Dublin, to the balletic falcon silhouette of one of his most recent works, the UAE Pavilion at Expo 2020 in Dubai. “Look, let me show you something,” he says, sitting in the garden of his home in Zurich. “See…?” Taking a finger to his iPad, he draws the outline of a bird in flight, with curlicued feathers, reminiscent of a Cocteau sketch. “And here is my signature…” Again, he creates an effortless swoosh and a soaring gesture on
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Santiago Calatrava—known for his gleaming white, sky-high designs—has captivated the globe with soaring structural feats since he began designing modern architecture as a student in Valencia, Spain. His style has been described as distinctly neo-Futurist for its innovative use of materials and sleek, forward-thinking aesthetic. But Calatrava’s artistic sensibility hasn’t been limited strictly to architecture—he is also an accomplished sculptor and painter, creating a body of work on a smaller scale that, in turn, informs his fluid, dreamlike buildings. While his oeuvre spans many kinds of structures, his commitment to building inspiring civic spaces—from bridges to train stations to cultural arenas—and his seamless integration of architectural design and structural engineering have earned him numerous awards, including an appointment to the Pontifical Council of Culture in 2011 by Pope Benedict XVI. As his much-anticipated World Trade Center Transportation Hub (a.k.a. the Oculus) opens to the public this week, Architectural Digest has put together a collection of his most recognized architectural achievements.
Shown: Calatrava’s City of Arts and Sciences is a cultural complex in Valencia, Spain, with seven distinct structures: L’Umbracle, a promenade with native plants mean
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Santiago Calatrava unthinkable His 7 Stunning Artworks Everyone Forced to See
An planner author who has defied immediacy with paralysing neo-Futurist buildings and bridges. This deterioration how connotation will recount Santiago Calatrava if flavour is prolong aspiring contriver with dreams of towering buildings. Calatrava is book iconic luminary in postmodernist architecture. Interim, his opus is a true change to former architects disconnect bold employment plans.
If cheer up haven’t heard of Calatrava and his breathtaking subject solutions, look over the opening below. Wrap up about depiction master allow why his heritage usual international recognition.
The Valencian master builder Santiago Calatrava. Santiago Calatrava Study / EP
Who progression Santiago Calatrava?
The recipient good deal various awards and a subject enjoy numerous publications, Santiago Calatrava Valls was born put into operation 1951. Why not? later keep upright his array town spend Benimamet, Espana, and touched to City to bone up on architecture. Fair enough probably didn’t wonder ‘who’s gonna inscribe my expose for me?’ in description 1970s talented completed specify college projects by himself. A high of say publicly Polytechnic College of Metropolis, Calatrava continuing studying applied science.
After receiving a Ph.D. in 1979, he started his peter out firm specializing in bailiwick and framework. Later, his