SANTIAGO CALATRAVA---MODERN DAY ARCHITECTURAL MASTER

You may not recognize the name but his fame grows world-wide every year. The current recognition in our country grows from his design for a 2,000 foot Chicago Spire, to house 1250 eco-friendly condos. This building’s seven sided façade twists upward to shunt downdrafts and increase stability. It has visible glass to ward off migrating birds, cisterns for recycling rainwater and a cooling system that uses water from the Chicago river. It opens in less than 3 years. We all know of the reputation this great city has for daring and diverse buildings. This could be one of the greatest of all.

Calatrava is relatively young as masters of architecture go, having been born in 1951. He started his architecture and engineering practice in 1981. Ten years later his fame was secure with his daring Montjuic Communications Tower in the heart of Barcelona for the Olympics.
But his fame can only grow exponentially as he has been chosen to design the World Trade Center Transportation Hub at Ground Zero in New York City.

Along the way this genius for our times became a noted painter and designer. His architectural design exploits extend further in this country to the Quadracci Pavillion of the Milwaukee Museum of Art and in Sweden the innovative 54 story twisting Tower called the Turning Torso.
He is considered one of the elite designers in the world. We shall surely see much more of his soaring buildings in the decades ahead.