Santiago Calatrava, Architect

and his Footprints in Switzerland

Santiago Calatrava Valls was born in 1951 in Benimamet near Valencia [Valence], Spain. He started his studies in 1968 at the school of arts in Valencia. From 1969 to 1974, Calatrava studied architecture and urbanistics at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectur de Valencia, then civil engineering at Switzerland's Federal Institute of Technology [Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH] in Zurich, finishing with a doctorate in technical sciences in 1981. Santiago Calatrava realized a number of projects in Switzerland and though he has been working all around the globe in recent years, he still lives in Zurich and has offices there (as well as in Paris and Valencia).

Calatrava combines a strong sense for art and beauty - he also works as a sculptor and a painter - with a profound knowledge of engineering allowing him to construct metallic structures that seem to defy the laws of gravity. His major works of architecture include bridges and train stations.

Some of Santiago Calatrava's Buildings in Switzerland

• 1984 - 1988 High School, Wohlen, canton Aargau [AG]
• 1984 - 1990 S-Bahn train station Zurich-Stadelhofen, enlargement/rebuilding
• 1984 - 1989 Lucerne main station, façade design and entrance hall
•       1985      Canopy to Swiss Post's mail distribution center in Lucerne
• 1986 - 1988 Comedy theatre Tabourettli, Basel, modification
• 1987 - 1996 Buchen residential complex, Würenlingen [AG]
•       1989      Temporary pavilion dedicated to concrete at Swissbau civil engineering fair, Basel
•       1999      St. Gallen: Klosterhof entrances to Pfalzkeller and cantonal emergency call center