There was once a time where I thought I wanted to be an architect or designer of creative, abstract structures for the public. I had a very supportive graphics design teacher in high school, who taught be the basics of hand drafting including perspective, shading, and dimension. After 4 months I was able to scale and sketch a replica of my interior and exterior designed dream house, which I entered into the state fair and won a first prize for.
Moving on to college, I took up classes in structure design and Auto CAD which were prerequisite for my engineering degree but I never took them to heart as much as I should have. Although my major had changed to Civil/ENVE engineering, I still had thoughts of creating structures…
Had I spent more time studying people like Santiago Calatava I would, to this day, be designing structures as planned…
Today I went to an exhibit at the MET titled Sculpture into Architecture presenting much of the work by Santiago Calatava.
Click on the links for the museum to read more on the exhibit. He should be important to New Yorkers because he’s the one that designed the new World Trade Center Hub (pictured above) – should it ever get completed. Not only that, everyone should experience the sight or even a walk through of some of his work. He’s a universal artist and engineer that combines science, art, technology and engineering into workable and beautifully livable structures. Inspired by nature, his work embodies a sense of potential movement or fluidity erupting from white concrete, glass, cables and steel struts.
I especially enjoyed the sketching, modeling and final photographic results of the Alamillo Bridge in Seville, Spain and the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ci’ncies in Valencia, Spain. I just wish I could get a chance to see the City of Arts & Sciences in person some day.
If you get a chance to make the exhibit, take the time. It’s well worth it (as if the MET in general is just another gallery).
In NY, the WTC Transportation Hub has been proposed but ground has still yet to be broke on the project. “Calatrava designed the underground concourse, mezzanine, and platform levels to be free of vertical columns for a greater sense of light, movement, and openness…. ‘The building is built with steel, glass, and light. They will all be equal building materials,’ Calatrava said. ‘The light will arrive at the platform, and visitors will feel like they are arriving in a great place, a welcoming place.'” Not sure if it will get finished by teh planned 2009 date, but I certainly am looking forward to it.
“A tradition is always in evolution… You can look back, but one of the bases on which I build is to push ahead” ~ Santiago Calatrava