The Architect, Artist and Engineer Santiago Calatrava Valls was born on July 28th, 1951 in Benimamet (Valencia). He had a primary and secondary school education in Valencia and from the age of 10 he also studied Fine Arts at the School of Arts and Trades of Valencia, where he began his training in painting and drawing. Later, he enrolled at the Superior Technical School of Architecture, an institution that is of relatively recent origin, where he obtained an Honours Degree in Architecture in 1974 and did a postgraduate course in urban developement. He also carried out different independent projects with a group of classmates at the university and published two books about the typical architecture of Valencia and Ibiza. The mathematical rigour of historical architecture inspired Santiago Calatrava to take a postgraduate course in Civil Engineering at the ETH (Federal Institute of Technology) in 1975 in Zurich where he obtained a Doctorate Degree in 1979. It was during this period that he met and married his wife, who was studying Law in Zurich.
Upon finishing his studies, he taught at the ETH and began to accept small engineering projects. He also participated in various contests and won a proposal for the design and construction of the Iron Station of the Stadenlolfen in Zurich, where he established his first studio of Architecture and Engineering.
In 1984 he was awarded the Bach de Roda Bridge project for the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. This launched his international reputation, which lead to the construction of the Bridge and Viaduct of the Alamillo for the 1992 Expo in Seville, the Pedestrian Footbridge of Campo Volantín in Bilbao (1990-97), and the Bridge and Metro Station of the Alameda in Valencia (1991-95).
He opened a second studio in Paris in 1989 while working on the high speed train station of Lyon-Satolas (1989-1994). During this stage of his career, Santiago Calatrava become known for large scale projects such as the BCE Place Mall in Toronto (1987-92), the new terminal of Bilbao’s Sondica Airport (1990-2000), the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia (1991 – the present), the East Station in Lisbon (1993-98)for the 1998 Expo, the St. John the Divine Cathedral, New York City (1991) , still unfinished.
An outstanding sculptor, Calatrava’s first exhibition was set up in the Jamileh Weber Gallery in Zurich in 1985 where nine pieces of sculpture were shown. A new stage of recognition gave way to a retrospective at the Royal Institute of British Architects (London) in 1992 and an exhibition of Structure and Expression at the Museum of Modern Art of New York in 1993. The latter featured the Shade Machine, a large-sized sculpture with undulating concrete “fingers” in the museum’s Garden of Sculptures . The most complete exhibition of his work to this day is “Santiago Calatrava: Artist, Architect and Engineer”, shown at the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence (2000 - 2001). As well as in Dallas Texas and at the Alexandro Soutzos Museum in the Athens.
Recently inaugurated works include the James Joyce Bridge - Dublin, Ireland (2003); The Auditorium of Tenerife (2003); Three Bridges over the Hoofdvaart, Holland (2004); the Turtle Bay Bridge - Redding, USA (2004), the Olympic Complex - Athens, Greece (2004). The Turning Torso - Malmö, Sweden (2005) ; the last building of the City of Arts and Sciences ; the Petach Tikvah Bridge - Tel Aviv, the Quatro Bridge - Venice, Italy.
He has recently been awarded the Symphonic Centre for Atlanta Symphonic Orchestra in Atlanta (USA); the new transport terminal of the World Trade Centre in New York (USA) and the South 80th Street Tower, also in New York.
Santiago Calatrava is a member of the Europa Academy, the International Fazlur Rhaman Vihan, the International Academy of Architecture and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando. He has also received distinctions such as the Auguste Perret Award from the International Union of Architects, Paris; the Fritz Schumaher Award, Hamburg (Germany); the Urban Development Design Prize - Toronto (Canada); the Gold Medal for Fine Arts Merit from the Spanish Ministry of Culture; the Gold Medal from the Concrete Society (London); the Prince of Asturias Arts Award; the A.H. Algur Meadows Award for Excellence in the Arts; the Gold Medal of the Circle of Fine Arts of Valencia; The Sir Misha Black Medal from the Royal College of Art (London); the Gold Medal of Architecture from the Academy of Architecture of Paris; the International Award of Illumination Design from The Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (New York); the European Steel Design Award, Lucerne (Switzerland); the Silver Beam Award given by the Swedish Institute of Steel Constructions, Gothenburg (Sweden); the Golden Plate Award from the Academy of Achievement, Chicago; the Gold Medal of 2004 from the Queen Sofia Spanish Institute of New York; the Gold Medal 2005 from the American Institute of Architects (AIA); the Eugene McDermott Arts Award from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and recently the MIPIM Award for "the best residential building in the world" given for the Turning Torso. Santiago Calatrava has been nominated as Doctor Honoris Causa on 13 occasions.
