Architect Santiago Calatrava and his famous projects

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Inspiration, landscape study, technical solutions, steel and concrete are the main components of the magnificent and functional buildings created by the legendary architect, whose buildings are impossible to forget once you see them. This is Santiago Calatrava. His works have been realized in Spain, Switzerland, America, Canada. The creations of this man are special, recognizable all over the world and scandalous. Calatrava revives any place, making it more beautiful and more functional. The Spanish architect is recognized for his futuristic style, technical innovation and aesthetics in the buildings he designs and builds.

Santiago Calatrava: biography

Not far from Valencia on July 28, 1951, the future builder of bridges, train stations, theaters and other structures that amaze with their unusual appearance was born. Santiago's father's profession, although it was focused on commercial activities, he loved art and wanted to instillartistic and creative perception of the world to his son. So, at an early age, the boy visited the Prado Museum and began to show interest in drawing and sculpture. At the age of eight, Santiago Calatrava was already drawing landmarks on whatman paper at an art school in Valencia.

The turbulent years in Spain determined further education outside the home state. At the age of 13, his parents made his son travel to Paris on a student exchange program, where he was imbued with the grandeur of the architecture of this beautiful city. The next step in getting a profession was studying at the Polytechnic University of Valencia, which Santiago Calatrava graduated in 1973. Two years later, the guy left for Switzerland, where he continued to study his favorite business in the field of construction, but as an engineer. Santiago studied at the Zurich University of Technology for four years. By 1981 he became a doctor of technical sciences and the founder of an architecture and construction studio in Switzerland.

First works and recognition

One of the first projects that brought international recognition to Santiago was the railway station (Stadelhofen) in Zurich. Although glimpses of architectural imagination appeared in Santiago in graduate school. With his scientific colleagues, he designed and built the pool. But it was not quite a simple sports facility, its implementation allowed passers-by to watch the swimmers from below.

The projects of Santiago Calatrava in 1986 supplemented the new developed plan for the implementation of a reinforced concrete bridge for automobile purposesin his native Valencia. And a year later, a young specialist for this work received the award of the International Union of Architects.

In 1989, Calatrava, with his work, entered the conquest of the French construction market. At the same time, he opened his studio in Paris and designed the railway station of Lyon. Santiago Calatrava opened an architecture and construction office in Valencia in 1991.

Olympic Games

Countries in which international sports competitions are held, as a rule, always try to meet guests at their true worth, surprise visitors with architectural structures and organization of the holiday. Therefore, in all years the best specialists were involved in the preparation of the Olympic Games. In 1992, summer sports were held in Barcelona and a telecommunications tower was required to broadcast them. Of course, the architect Santiago Calatrava was chosen by the government as a specialist to build a facility in an iconic place in the country.

On Mount Montjuic, a 136-meter tower was erected in three years. The idea of Calatrava was to create a structure in the form of an athlete with a torch in his hand. Her uniqueness didn't end there. The spire is a kind of clock hand, which falls like a shadow on the base of the TV tower, thereby showing the time.

The 1992 Summer Olympics is not the only sporting event where the Spanish creator left his mark. In 2004, Santiago Calatrava was invited to renovate the Athens Sports Complex.

Movement –the basis of the architect's work

In the implemented projects of the architect, his attraction to the improvement of the transport system and the movement of people can be traced. But among the works of the master, one cannot fail to note a residential skyscraper in Malmö. The Clauses of Santiago Calatrava, which became the basis for the creation of an extraordinary house, consisted of the idea of movement. In one of his lectures at the Moscow Institute, Santiago said: “Architecture exists for people, and human bodies influence architecture in terms of proportion, rhythm and size.”

The building consists of nine pentagon segments, each of which has five floors. Each segment is twisted in relation to the previous one, and the last retinue is 90 degrees relative to the first. The building was under construction for four years. In 2005, the 190-meter tower was officially opened. To this day, it is one of the main attractions in Sweden and the second tallest building in Europe.

The beginning of the 21st century: entering a new continent

In 2001, in the state of Wisconsin, near the existing complex of the Museum of Art, the third pavilion of Quadracci was erected. Vaulted ceilings, a movable sun visor reminiscent of a bird's wingspan, are the building's main structural solutions, created by such a genius as Santiago Calatrava. The photo of the dynamic structure impresses with its aesthetics and attracts crowds of tourists to Lake Michigan. The glass vestibule of the pavilion has the shape of a parabola. All the buildings of the Calatrava Museum were connected into a single complex by a complex network of footbridges.

Another attraction, only in South America, was implemented in 2001 on the idea of a Spanish architect. It became the Bridge of the Woman. The engineering invention consisted in the mobility of the central part of the bridge for the passage of large ships. According to the creator, local music inspired him to build this structure. And the architect translated the rhythms he heard into the creation of a bridge in Buenos Aires.

City of Arts and Sciences

The engineering inventions of Santiago Calatrava could not bypass his native country. Not far from Valencia, on an area of 350,000 m², there is a unique complex dedicated to cultural and scientific development. The first elements of the "city" were: a planetarium, a cinema and a theater of laser performances. In 2000, a science museum was opened, as well as a landscaped park. After some time, the opening of the largest aquarium in Europe in the form of a water lily took place. The work belonged to Felix Candela, an architect who was involved in parallel with Calatrava in the construction of a landmark in Valencia. The last building of the "city" was the opera house. The architectural complex is designed to familiarize a person with various aspects of art, nature, science and technology.

At night, when the light comes from inside buildings and it's dark around, all these creations resemble animal skeletons.

Criticism

Santiago's projects are not only recognizable, but also expensive. Moreover, the final price of the work exceeds the originalestimate, and there are disputes over the timing of implementation. In recent years, Calatrava's buildings have been the center of a scandal.

The "City of Arts and Sciences" cost 900 million euros, three times the original budget. In the buildings of the complex, when it was put into operation, there were no emergency exits and fire escapes, although later the errors were eliminated by Santiago, but at the expense of public funds.

Engineer Santiago Calatrava, creating the airport terminal in Bilbao, did not take into account the capacity of the building. Therefore, passengers who passed customs control were forced to wait outside to receive their luggage. In 2000, the airport was also subject to debugging.

The Subisuri Bridge, paved with glass slabs, turned out to be a traumatic place in rainy weather. The Constitution Bridge in Venice has also been criticized. The reasons were not only the timing and the cost of the project exceeding three times, but also the functionality. It lacks ramps and is too steep, making it difficult for older people to get around.

New York Train Station

The construction of an underground high-speed rail station in New York on the site of the twin towers is also carried out according to Calatrava's projects. The design of the structure above the zero mark resembles a bird freed from the hands of a child. Inside there are subways, bus stops, stations, the walls of which are made of marble. Completion of the work is planned by 2016 with a cost of 4 billion, although initially the construction was calculatedallocate $1.9 billion.

One authoritative publication in the publication claimed that the cost of the construction of the station is deliberately overstated. This is confirmed by the audit of the company that ordered the project from the Spanish architect.

Conclusion

In response to criticism, one can say in defense of the architect that his current clients are repeat buyers. “The purpose of my buildings is to make cities unique and enrich the human experience,” said Santiago Calatrava. Sightseeing is his calling. It would seem, what can surprise the development and implementation of vital architectural objects, such as bridges, stations? The works created by the Spanish creator become buildings, architectural monuments, structures that deserve attention.

He is the author of fifty architectural structures, and more than a dozen works are still in the process of development.