Santiago Calatrava Valls

Authors: I A and IV A classes

I.S. Galilei Benevento - Italy

Santiago Calatrava Valls (born July 28, 1951) is

an internationally recognized and award-winning
Spanish architect and engineer whose principal
office is in Zurich, Switzerland.
 His life
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.
In 1981, after completing his
doctoral thesis, "On the Foldability
of Space Frames", he started his
architecture and engineering
practice. Classed now among the
elite designers of the world, he has
offices in Zurich, Paris, New York
and elsewhere.
Calatrava's early career was dedicated
largely to bridges and train stations, the
designs for which elevated the status of civil
engineering projects to new heights. His
elegant and daring Montjuic Communications
Tower in Barcelona, Spain (1991) in the
heart of the 1992 Olympic site was a turning
point in his career, leading to a wide range of
commissions. The Quadracci Pavilion (2001)
of the Milwaukee Art Museum was his first
major US building. Calatrava’s entry into
high-rise design began with an innovative 54
storey high twisting tower, called Turning
Torso (2005), located in Malmö, Sweden.
Calatrava is currently designing the future
train station - World Trade Center
Transportation Hub - at Ground Zero in New
York City.
 Calatrava’s style
Calatrava’s style has been
heralded as bridging the division
between structural engineering
and architecture. In this, he
continues a tradition of Spanish
modernist engineering that
includes Félix Candela and
Antonio Gaudí. Nonetheless, his
style is very personal and derives
from numerous studies he makes
of the human body and the natural
world.
 Fordham Spire
Fordham Spire A
condominium and hotel
building designed by Santiago
Calatrava for Chicago's Near
North lakefront. At 2,000 feet,
the building, the Fordham
Spire, would beat out the
1,776-foot Freedom Tower
planned for ground zero.
 Calatrava as
sculptor
Calatrava is also a prolific
sculptor and painter, claiming
that the practice of architecture
combines all the arts into one. In
2005, the Metropolitan Museum
of Art in New York City, held an
exhibition of his artistic work,
entitled "Santiago Calatrava:
Sculpture Into Architecture."
Exhibitions of his work have also
taken place in Germany,
England, Spain, Italy and
elsewhere.
 80 South Street
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.

Information ad photos taken from Wikipedia