ARCHITECTURE
Santiago Calatrava
Architect, artist and engineer Santiago Calatrava made a name for himself by constructing a series of graceful, harp-like bridges and dramatic, sculptural buildings, an elevation of engineering to art form. He creates architectural masterpieces of astonishing beauty rather than strictly utilitarian ones. In New York, his World Trade Center Transportation Hub is stunning, the major public commission speaking of his aesthetic virtuosity. The hub’s main Oculus structure is composed of steel ribs and glass arranged in an elliptical shape. Between two gigantic arches, a roughly 100-metre-long operable skylight frames a sliver of sky, and opens on temperate days as well as annually on September 11, enabling natural daylight to flood into the structure and filter down through all floors to the railway platforms some 18 metres below ground. Although it could be compared to motifs from different world traditions – the Byzantine mandorla or perhaps the wings of the cherubim above the Ark of the Covenant – the shape, according to Calatrava, references a bird released from a child’s hands. “One of the things I find most exciting about architecture is that it’s an activity that has the capacity to offer works that, apart from being useful in their functional role, make it possible to convert spaces into something inspirational,” he says. “As architects, through our work, we’re able to transmit feelings to whoever is contemplating it. By developing this functional role that also provides a service, the architect has the capacity to establish extraordinary relationships with people, which is, by itself, something beautiful.” Calatrava’s reputation is centred more on form and less on function, and when not making buildings he creates sculptures, ceramics and paintings. Drawing is integral to his creative process, and he sketches and produces watercolours constantly to explore and rework his architectural designs. Born in 1951, he attended the Arts and Crafts School in Valencia, Spain, from the age of eight. Obsessed with drawing, he carried his pencils with him wherever he went and seemed destined for a career in art until he discovered the work of Le Corbusier. After earning a degree in architecture from the Polytechnic University of Valencia in 1974, he took a postgraduate course in urbanism and studied civil engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich to learn how buildings are constructed in order to
push the limits of architectural convention, earning a doctorate in 1981. That same year, he established his own architectural and engineering firm in Zurich, before opening offices in Paris, New York and Dubai. “Since I was a kid, I’ve always felt a profound attraction towards the arts,” says Calatrava. “I was very influenced by my parents, from whom I learned to consider art as a state of mind that’s able to move us. When I turned 16, I moved to Paris with the intention of studying fine arts, but it was May 1968 and the school was closed due to riots. “During my time in the city, I entered a shop to buy paintbrushes and I found a book on Le Corbusier, which was a revelation for me. Unable to start my studies in Paris, I returned to Valencia, enrolled in arts school and later in architecture school. During those years, I balanced my studies with trips across Europe, which allowed me to learn about vernacular architecture and acquire unforgettable life experiences. “This learning process has served me both in my training as an architect and in the practice of my profession. Often, when you’ve dedicated yourself for such a long time to one job, you find yourself in a completely different place from where you started. What’s important is that throughout your route, you’re able to find the path to express emotions through your works.” Calatrava quickly built up a reputation for combining high-tech engineering solutions with grand visual spectacles, particularly in his mastery of bridge-building. His Alamillo Bridge, built for Expo ’92 in Seville to provide access to an island that hosted the exhibitions, features a 142-metre-high pylon slanting asymmetrically away from the river, holding up a span with more than a dozen pairs of cables, thereby transforming the bridge into a type of sculpture that could revitalise the surrounding environment. Other notable bridges by Calatrava include the Bach de Roda in Barcelona, the Samuel Beckett in Dublin, the Margaret Hunt Hill in Dallas, the Campo Volantin Footbridge in Bilbao, the Woman’s Bridge in Buenos Aires, the Fourth Bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice and the Bridge of Strings in Jerusalem. “I believe each one of the projects I’ve created reflects who I am as an architect,” he says. “It’s logical that there’s an evolution both in design and process, because our life is a continuous learning curve. I’ve always attempted to speak my own language. That doesn’t mean a person can be entirely