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.