Architects
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Bios
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Santiago Calatrava Valls was born in Benimámet, a province of Valencia, on 28 of July 1951. Architect and sculptor, he completed his civil engineering studies in Zurich. For Barcelona he designed two works of special interest architecturally
Due to family businesses, he got accustomed, since he was very young, to travel frequently and to get to know the reality of European cities.
At eight years old, he studied in the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Valencia (Valencia School of Arts) where he made the first steps as sketcher and painter. At 13, in an exchange program, he travelled to Paris to study and when he returned he enrolled in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Valencia (Superior Technical School of Architecture of Valencia), where he gained an architect degree and did a post-graduation in town planning.
His interest for great works and the desire to amplify his training in the area, took him to transfer to Zurich between 1975 and 1979 to do his doctorate in civil engineering. With a solid training in the artistic plan, as painter and sculptor, and in technician, as an engineer, he is considered one of the most specialist architects in great structures. In his works he achieves an extraordinary esthetic and harmony, in reverse to what is habitual in the majority of architects that opt to conceal the structure of their works. As an engineer, Calatrava prefers to convert these elements in works of art, achieving a surprising result.
However, his work is criticized by his rivals as not very practical: for example, Bilbao airport lacks satisfactory installations for travellers.
He received numerous awards and the recognition of diverse institutions, between those the Premio Príncipe de Asturias de las Artes – Prince of Asturias of the Arts Award - (1999). As well, he has been named Honary Degree by twelve universities. In 2007 he was granted the Premio Nacional de Arquitectura (National Architecture Award).
He was commissioned to make the highest skyscraper in the United States (the Chicago Spire), with 610 metres, and, in Oviedo in Asturias, he is in charge of the future Palacio de Congresos Princesa Letizia (Congress Palace of Princess Letizia) and it has been projected with three inclining towers of 130 metres high and 39 floors, the ´triplets´ of Calatrava.
Some of his most representative works:
- Llotja de Sant Jordi, Alcoy
- Ciudad de las Artes y de las Ciencias (City of Arts and Sciences), Valencia
- Lusitania Bridge, Mérida
- Tram Station, Lieja, Belgium
- Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, EEUU
- Oriente Station, Lisboa, Portugal
- Bilbao Airport
- Alamillo Bridge, Sevilla
- Tabourettli Theatre, Basel, Switzerland
- Tenerife Auditorium, Canarias
- Puente de la Mujer (Bridge of the Woman), Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Kuwait Pavillion, Expo '92, Seville
- Bridge in Venice
- Cable-stayed bridge, Jerusalem
- Olympic Sports Complex, Athens, Greece