Inspiration, landscape studies, technical solutions, steel and concrete are the main components of magnificent and functional structures created by the legendary architect, whose buildings cannot be forgotten if you see once. This is Santiago Calatrava. His works are implemented in Spain, Switzerland, America, Canada. The creations of this man are special, recognizable throughout the world and scandalous. Calatrava revives any place, making it more beautiful and functional. The Spanish architect gained recognition thanks to the futuristic style, technical innovations and aesthetics in the designed and implemented buildings.
Santiago Calatrava: biography
Not far from Valencia, on July 28, 1951, the future builder of bridges, train stations, theaters and other structures, striking in their unusual appearance, was born. The profession of Father Santiago, although it was focused on commercial activities, but he loved art and wanted to instill an artistic 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 already depicted sights on a Whatman paper at an art school in Valencia.
The troubled years in Spain determined the further education outside the home state. At the age of 13, parents made their son travel to Paris under the student exchange program, where he was imbued with the grandeur of the architecture of this beautiful city. The next step in obtaining a profession was training 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. For four years, Santiago studied at the Technological University of Zurich. By 1981, he became a doctor of technical sciences and the founder of a studio of architecture and construction in Switzerland.
First works and recognition
One of the first projects that brought international recognition to Santiago was the train station (Stadelhofen) in Zurich. Although glimpses of architectural imagination appeared in Santiago still in graduate school. With his scientific colleagues, he designed and built the pool. But it was not quite a simple sports facility, its implementation made it possible to watch passers-by from below swimmers.
Santiago Calatrava's projects in 1986 were supplemented by a new developed plan for the implementation of a reinforced concrete bridge for automobile purposes in his native Valencia. And a year later, a young specialist for this work received the prize 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 constructed the Lyon railway station. Santiago Calatrava in 1991 opened an office for architecture and construction in Valencia.
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 buildings and the 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 for the construction of an object in a symbolic place of the country.
On Mount Montjuic, a 136-meter tower was erected in three years. Calatrava’s idea was to create a structure in the form of an athlete with a torch in his hand. Her extraordinary did not end there. The spire is a kind of clock hand, which falls in the shadow on the base of the tower, thereby showing time.
The 1992 Summer Olympics is not the only sports event where the Spanish creator left an imprint of his work. In 2004, Santiago Calatrava was invited to reconstruct the Athens Sports Complex.
Movement is the basis of the architect’s work
In the realized projects of the architect, his tendency to improve the transport system and move people is traced. But among the works of the master, one cannot fail to note a residential skyscraper in Malmo. The clauses of Santiago Calatrava, which became the basis for creating an extraordinary home, consisted of the idea of movement. In a lecture given at a Moscow institute, Santiago said: “Architecture exists for people, and human bodies influence architecture in terms of proportions, rhythm and size.”
The building consists of nine segments – pentagons, each of which has five floors. Each segment is twisted in relation to the previous one, and the last suite is 90 degrees relative to the first. The building was built for four years. In 2005, the 190-meter tower was officially opened. To this day, it is one of the main attractions of Sweden and the second tallest building in Europe.
The beginning of the 21st century: access to a new continent
In 2001, in Wisconsin, near the existing Museum of Art complex, the third pavilion of Quadracci rose. Vaulted ceilings, a movable sun visor that resembles the wingspan of a bird, are the main structural solutions of the building created by such a genius as Santiago Calatrava. The dynamic design photo is striking in its aesthetics and attracts crowds of tourists to Lake Michigan. The glass lobby of the pavilion has the shape of a parabola. Calatrava united all the buildings of the museum into a single complex with a complex network of pedestrian bridges.
Another attraction, only already in South America, was realized in 2001 on the idea of a Spanish architect. She became the Woman's Bridge. An engineering invention was the mobility of the central part of the bridge for the passage of large vessels. According to the creator, local music inspired him to build this building. And the architect embodied the heard rhythms in the creation of a bridge in Buenos Aires.
"City of Arts and Sciences"
Santiago Calatrava's engineering inventions could not ignore his native country. Not far from Valencia, on an area of 350, 000 m 2, 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 productions. In 2000, a museum of science was opened, as well as a landscaped park. After some time, the opening of the largest water lily-shaped aquarium in Europe took place. The work belonged to Felix Candela, an architect who simultaneously participated 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 people with various aspects of art, nature, science and technology.
At night, when light comes from inside the buildings, and around it is dark, all these creations resemble animal skeletons.
Criticism
Santiago projects are not only recognizable, but also expensive. Moreover, the final price of the work exceeds the original estimate, and there are disputes over the timing of implementation. In recent years, the construction of Calatrava is the center of scandal.
The “City of Arts and Sciences” cost 900 million euros, which is three times the original budget. When the complex was commissioned, there were no emergency exits and fire escapes, although later errors were eliminated by Santiago, but at the expense of state funds.
The engineer Santiago Calatrava, creating the airport terminal in Bilbao, did not take into account the capacity of the structure. Therefore, passengers who passed customs control, were forced to expect baggage on the street. In 2000, the airport was also corrected for miscalculations.
Subisuri Bridge, paved from 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 three times the cost of the project, but also the functionality. There are no ramps in it, it is too steep, which makes the movement of older people difficult.
Train station in new york
The construction of an underground high-speed railway 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 released from the hands of a child. Inside there are subways, bus stops, stations whose walls are made of marble. Completion is planned by 2016 at a cost of 4 billion, although initially it was planned to allocate $ 1.9 billion for the construction.
One authoritative publication in the publication claimed that the cost of the design of the station was deliberately overstated. This is confirmed by an audit of the company that ordered the project from a Spanish architect.
