Santiago Calatrava
Architect

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Santiago Calatrava is a Spaniard with architectural offices in Zurich (established in 1981), Paris (established 1989) and Valencia, Spain. Born near Valencia on July 28, 1951, he now lives in Zurich. He has designed buildings throughout Europe and won many international design competitions, including one for the completion of the massive Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York [ 1991 ] and a design for the first bridge of the modem era over Venice's Grand Canal [1996]. The MAM expansion will be his first building completed in the U.S.

Calatrava has designed numerous public projects such as transportation centers, bridges, offices, a library, high school, television studio, theaters, warehouses and stadiums including:

• Stadelhofen Railway Station, Zurich, Switzerland (1983-90)
  
• BCE Place, Galleria and Heritage Square, Toronto, Canada (1987-92)
  
• Lyon Airport Railway Station, France (1989-94)
  
• Kuwait Pavilion, Expo '92, Seville, Spain (1991-92)
  
• Science Centre Museum and Planetarium, Valencia, Spain (1991 -) (includes second-highest broadcasting mast in Europe)
  
• Tenerife Concert Hall, Canary Islands (199)
  
• Sondica Airport (1990- ) and Control Tower (1993-), Bilbao, Spain

Exhibitions of his work have been shown at the Museum of Modem Art in New York and the Milwaukee Art Museum and at museums in London, Tokyo, Moscow, Copenhagen, Munich, Stockholm, Rotterdam and Zurich.

Calatrava studied art and architecture in Valencia, with graduate courses in urban studies and civil engineering. He has a Ph.D. in Technical Science from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, and honorary doctorates from University Politechnic Valencia, University of Seville, Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland, and Milwaukee School of Engineering.

Philosophy

Calatrava has said he feels an affinity for the Modernist tradition of architecture, specifically the work of Finnish-born Eero Saarinen, designer of the St. Louis "arch" and the 1957 building which houses the Milwaukee Art Museum. In all his projects, Calatrava, has tackled complex, technical challenges with remarkably simple and elegant solutions. His solutions are often inspired by nature, but the organic forms are then taken to technical heights using materials such as steel and glass -- a synthesis of light, space, material, form and structure. A light and airy feel permeates the interior spaces of his buildings. The Milwaukee Art Museum project will continue Calatrava's interest in the movability of structural fi-ames, incorporating a moveable, louvered sunscreen (Burke Brise Soleil). An engineer as well as architect, he has explored and utilized the concept of movable building forms for more than 15 years.

Inspiration

Calatrava, has said the first thing he noticed about the Milwaukee Art Museum site on the shore of Lake Michigan was water--vast expanses of it along with its sailboats and flocks of gulls. It was, he concluded, a uniquely beautiful location for a museum. He has incorporated these lakefront elements into the design--the movable steel louvers enclosing the reception hall are inspired by the wings of a bird, the cabled pedestrian bridge has a soaring mast like that of a boat, the curve of the single-story galleria is reminiscent of a wave.

A Place for Art and People

While the project is itself a work of art, Calatrava, has taken great care to ensure the addition will be, first and foremost, a place to showcase art and a gathering place for people. While Calatrava has never designed an art museum before, he does have significant experience in creating functional public spaces.

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