by GenCept | February 02, 2010
Photos from site calatrava.com.
Santiago Calatrava was born on July 28, 1951 in Valencia, Spain. At age 8 he began to draw and paint in the Arts and Crafts School and at 13 he was an exchange student in France. Returning to Valencia, he entered the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura, where he graduated and attended a post-graduate degree in Urban Planning.
Even without a direction to follow in his career, Calatrava decided to continue his studies in another area with which he was fascinated by: Engineering. Then in 1975, he entered the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, receiving his Ph.D. in 1979. Having completed his studies, he worked with small engineering projects and began to participate in competitions.
Ernsting’s Warehouse, Coesfeld, Germany
In 1983 he won his first competition: Stadelhofen Railway Station in Zurich, where he had set his office. A year later, his first bridge project, starting the worldwide recognition of his name attached to such construction.
Stadelhofen Station, Zurich, Switzerland
In 1989 he established his second office in Paris, and the third in Valencia in 1991. With all the studies and knowledge, Santiago Calatrava reconciles two materials that do not always come together easily: art and engineering, each taking the other aside. With a knowledge of modern engineering and its technologies, he can make his paintings and his inspiration become great works of art in form of large-scale sculptures.
