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:

      →     

The Tenerife Opera House in Spain:

Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias (the City of Arts and Sciences) in Spain:

Lyon Airport in France:

P.S. I ♥ 3D!!!!

At the age of 8 Santiago Calatrava was interested in art an architecture.  His parents took advantage of the opportunity to send him to boarding school in France when he was 13.  Calatrava intended on attending the Escuela Tenica Superior des Beaux-Arts in Paris, but plans fell through and he returned to Valencia and enrolled in the Escuela Tenica Superior de Arquitectura. He received a degree in Architecture and engrossed himself in many independent projects. With a clearly mathematical mind, Calatrava decided to attend post-graduate studies and earn a degree in civil engineering. 

Soon Calatrava began completing small projects and entering competitions. This lead him to establish his first office in Zurich to carryout one of his projects. However, it was the building of the Bach de Roda bridge in Barcelona, Spain that made Calatrava’s success known worldwide.   He opened his second office in Paris, and the third in Valencia.  Calatrava’s work began to spread throughout the world as he immersed himself into project after project from Zurich to the U.S.  Calatrava’s first building in the U.S. was the expansion of the Milwaukee Art Museum in 2001, and then the Sundial Bridge in Turtle Bay, California in 2004.   

Calatrava has received much praise for his astonishing work.  This includes the Gold Medal of the Institute of Structural Engineers, London, England, as well as countless other medals and recognitions from across the globe.  Inspiration for my Inflatables project came from Calatrava’s design below.  

30 St Mary Axe, also known as the Gherkin, is a hard sight to miss among London’s financial district. Among the tallest buildings in London, this symmetrical design is sleek and yet dynamic with the pattern of windows creating a visual twisting effect. The high-tech appearance of the building is owed very much to the materials used repeatedly throughout the structure such as the windows and metal skeleton. The scale of the building itself is not too high, only 40 floors, yet compared to the scale of the surrounding areas looms over the city. The smooth lines and balance of the building are very aesthetically pleasing and unique in the landscape of the City of London.

         The artist I chose was Renzo Piano.  He is an Italian architect.  He graduated from Politecnico di Milano in 1964 and shortly after began working with famous architects such as Richard Rodgers and Louis Kahn.  He is also very famous for buildings in New York City, Athens, Chicago and many others. 

I was especially impressed with his piece called, “Bolla” which is italian for “the glass bubble.”  ”Bolla” is placed on the bottom of the sea floor in Genoa, Italy.   It looks like a giant glass home floating on the water.  In “Bolla” there is an aquarium, a greenhouse, and animals.  In “Bolla” you will learn about biology from tour guides who are enthusiastic about science.   It is a place for learning and appreciation.         

Like Piano, uses he background to work with his pieces.  I want to do the same.  I plan on using a picture I took of my cousin blowing a giant bubble and I want to have the bubble protruding from his face.   It will be round just like “Bolla” and it will also work with the scenery around it.  My version of the water/buildings will be his picture.  I want to have it so it looks like he is blowing a bubble and it is about to pop but really it will just be increasing and decreasing.  I would also somehow like to incorporate sound with it. 

Brief Bio from:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaha_Hadid

Zaha Hadid was born October 31, 1950 in Baghdad, Iraq. She received a degree in mathematics from the American University of Beirut before moving to study at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. After graduating she worked with her former teachers, Rem Koolhaas and Elia Zenghelis at the Office for Metropolitan Architecture, becoming a partner in 1977. 1980 she established her own London-based practice. During the 1980s she also taught at the Architectural Association. She has also taught at prestigious institutions around the world; she held the Kenzo Tange Chair at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, the Sullivan Chair at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Architecture, guest professorships at the Hochschule für Bildende Künste in Hamburg, the Knowlton School of Architecture, at The Ohio State University, the Masters Studio at Columbia University, New York and the Eero Saarinen Visiting Professor of Architectural Design at the Yale School of Architecture, New Haven, Connecticut. In addition, she was made Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and Fellow of the American Institute of Architects. She is currently Professor at the University of Applied Arts Vienna in Austria. In 2008, she ranked 69th on the Forbes list of “The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women”.

Structure Chosen for Inspiration

Mobile Art (for Chanel)

(Mobile Art- Hong Kong)

Financed by the French luxury goods company, Chanel Mobile Art is out of this world. The structure holds 7,500 square feet of futuristic-esque space. “Beyond its artistic mission, the pavilion is a provocative advertisement,” says Carol Vogel of The New York Times. “Chanel, the fashion brand, commissioned Ms. Hadid to create the traveling structure to house works by 20 hot contemporary artists.” Chanel required the artists to produce art inspired by the signature quilted handbag, “2.55” for “February 1955.” Pieces in the show included: “at the bottom” by Japanese artist Tabaimo, “The Sidewalk” by Leandro Erlich, “Fifty Years After our Common Era or Handbags’ Revolt” by Blue Noses, a film by Nobuyoshi Araki, and a room dominated by a “wishing tree” by Yoko Ono, a wall of pictures by Stephen Shore and a giant Chanel purse open to reveal a Chanel compact by Slyvie Fleury.

Some pictures of the key pieces and an awesome article can be found here: http://thestar.com.my/lifestyle/story.asp?file=/2008/3/23/lifearts/20705770&sec=lifearts

From: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/24/arts/design/24zaha.html

“The convergence of art, architecture and fashion is commonplace these days. A Louis Vuitton bag designed by the artist Richard Prince is constantly spotted on the streets of New York, Basel and London. The Japanese artist Takashi Murakami’s creations for Louis Vuitton were sold in a special shop that formed part of a Murakami retrospective at the Brooklyn Museum and the Los Angeles Museum of Contemporary Art. The architect Rem Koolhaas has helped define the look of Prada shops, and Frank Gehry recently designed a line of jewelry for Tiffany & Company.”

“Art is art. Fashion is fashion. However, Andy Warhol proved that they can exist together.”
-Karl Lagerfeld

Elements of 3D design

“In an interview in her London office, Ms. Hadid said that even though she has not yet designed a permanent building in New York, she liked the idea that the pavilion “lands, creates a buzz and disappears.”

The challenge, she said, was to create a pavilion that was both visually compelling and could be easily transported. Each piece had to fit together like a giant jigsaw puzzle.
Using computer software Ms. Hadid designed a 7,500-square-foot doughnut-shape structure with a central courtyard. Its lightweight panels can be packed in 51 shippable containers; no panel is wider than 7.38 feet.

Skylights admit natural light, and computer-generated lighting casts a rainbow of colors around the base of the exterior that glows day and night.
Visitors entering the pavilion will be given MP3 players. On a track created by the sound artist Stephan Crasneanscki they will hear the French actress Jeanne Moreau discussing everything from sex and love to the secrets at the bottom of a woman’s handbag.””
I love how this exhibit encorporates art on so many different levels. The structure itself is renown. The structure holds a complete show of contemporary art from around the world. Every aspect of this piece is pleasing to the eyes, ears and overall experience. Karl Lagerfeld noted that, “The most important [iece of art is the container itself.”

MISC Info

Because it worked so well for Chanel, Prada could not resist building its own mobile pavilion for art, The Prada Transformer

Late last year, Diesel operated “Brave,” a temporary exhibition gallery.

The Mobile Art exhibition for Chanel was supposed to be a two-year world tour, which would make stops in Hong Kong, Tokyo, New York, London, Moscow and Paris. Sadly, Chanel pulled the plug on the show after the “Orb of Insanity” landed in New York’s Central Park. “Considering the current economic crisis, we decided it was best to stop the project,” said a Chanel spokeswoman. “We will be concentrating on strategic growth investments.”

(Karl Lagerfeld and Zaha Hadid inside Mobile Art)

You can check out the website here:

Here’s a grool video about Mobile Art. (It didn’t allow me to embed it, sorry!)

For my inflatable project, I want to make my own Mobile Art show. Get hyped.

-Meggle$