Today is Santiago Calatrava Day in Milwaukee, honoring the architect’s iconic Quadracci Pavilion

2022-09-16T12:30:00-04:00

Milwaukee has declared Friday, September 16th as Santiago Calatrava Day, in celebration of the architect’s contribution to the city. Calatrava’s legacy in the city comes in the form of the Milwaukee Art Museum’s Quadracci Pavilion, known locally as “The Calatrava.”

The pavilion opened in 2001 following four years of construction. Designed in collaboration with local architect David Kahler Slater, the project was Calatrava’s first building in the United States. Three years after the pavilion’s completion, Calatrava would unveil his design for the World Trade Center Transportation Hub in Lower Manhattan.

A 2013 photo of the Calatrava building courtesy Wikimedia Commons user Uriel-carmen

“What I love about Milwaukee is the city adopted it, even though it seems very foreign to what’s being made here, as the image of the city,” said Mo Zell, an associate professor and chair of the UWM architecture department in a 2020 reflection on Calatrava’s Quadracci Pavilion. “That’s a great thing whe...

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Today is Santiago Calatrava Day in Milwaukee, honoring the architect’s iconic Quadracci Pavilion