Desain Arsitektur Masa Depan: Santiago Calatrava

Santiago Calatrava was born on July 28, 1951 in a town near Valencia, Spain. As a youth, Santiago attended the Arts and Crafts School. He then pursued his undergraduate studies at Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura (The Architecture School). Afterwards, he continued onto graduate studies at Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland for civil engineering where he received a Ph.D in 1975. During this time, Santiago met and married his wife, who had been a law student in Zurich.

After Santiago’s studies, he began completing engineering commissions in developing various structures such as Stadelholfen Railway Station in Zurich. His legacy of bridge designs began when he designed and built the Bach de Roda Bridge in Barcelona, Spain. He operated firms in Zurich, Barcelona, and Valencia. Thus far, many of his works have been featured in Spain, Italy, Swedan, England, Germany, New York City, and Chicago.

Santiago’s work has been noted to be the union of structural engineering, architecture, and art. Most of his works portray constant motion and even incorporate the human body movement. Santiago’s Turning Torso is inspired from the way a human’s torso would twist; this is a very natural movement (nature), yet used in a very non-natural manner (building). Also, sphere forms are evident in his designs, as well as overlapping layers- most obvious in roof structure (I see it as a hovering/bending-over effect). Glass and windowing are also used to create transparent “space”, which almost creates the illusion of a cut-out.

In my opinion, the works of Santiago Calatrava are very unique and one of a kind, as he combines realistic qualities (mathematical exactness/geometry) with a dreamer-like aspect (the constant movement/flight/rise). The natural world and its repetitive forms are evident through his works.

Turning Torso in Swedan:

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