Archinect - News

Santiago Calatrava fined $86,000 over slippery "lobster" bridge in Venice

2019-08-15T13:00:00-04:00

The sweeping structure, which spans the Grand Canal and was the first new bridge to be built in the floating city for 70 years, was designed by renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. But it has been dogged by controversy ever since it was unveiled in 2008.

According to The Telegraph, Santiago Calatrava has been fined €78,000, or roughly $86,000, by the city of Venice due to "negligence" involved in the design of the troubled 300-foot-long Ponte della Constituzione bridge in the city.

According to the report, an Italian judge has ruled that the bridge's structural steel tubes are undersized relative to what is required to span the Grand Canal. Also, the structure's glass steps, supposedly designed to last 20 years, have had a much shorter lifespan, and have required replacement in the decade that has elapsed since the bridge first opened.

View of the underside of Calatrava's "lobster" bridge. Image courtesy of Flickr use C-Monster.

The bridge has been derided by locals, who have likened the crossing's appearance to that of "a lobster," according to The Telegraph. That's not all, however. Initially faulted for the failing to provide accessible means for crossing the stepped bridge by people with disabilities, the design was amended to...

Calatrava's megatall Dubai Creek Tower completes design development

2018-02-15T14:52:00-05:00

The design development programme for Dubai Creek Tower is fully complete. BMT, an international design, engineering and risk management consultancy, announced that it had taken the Emaar Properties project "to 100% design development". Wind engineering experts from BMT have completed aerodynamic shape optimisation studies, wind loading analyses, and façade wind pressure assessments for the project.

Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, stopped by the Santiago Calatrava-designed Dubai Creek Tower megaproject last month and inspected the monumental foundation work of what may soon be the world's tallest building (the final height is still kept a secret but was announced to surpass the 829.8 m/2,722 ft of the current and nearby record holder, the Burj Khalifa).

Calatrava's Peace Bridge in Calgary keeps getting vandalized and the repair costs are adding up

2016-11-16T14:04:00-05:00

After two more glass panels were ruined on the Peace Bridge, Calgary's top transportation official revealed that vandals have, overall, caused more than $200,000 in damage to the bridge, forcing the city to upgrade the security camera system in the area. The helical steel pedestrian bridge, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava and spanning the Bow River, was closed for several weeks this summer while a contractor replaced half a dozen cracked panels.

Apparently, eight glass panel have been replaced in total since the bridge opened in 2012. Glass handrail panels have been shattered. And, earlier this year, all the light fixtures had to be replaced because the original ones kept burning out during the cold winter months.

As a deterrent, officials have had to install an extensive surveillance system. Now, they're planning to copy a move made on a nearby bridge and install some speakers that will bark at you if you loiter for too long. "Sir, move along," the loudspeaker will politely intone.

The bridge was controversial at the get-go for its high price tag—$24.5 million. It was approved mere days before the 2008 financial crash. That being said, the Peace Bridge has proved to be quite popular with both locals and tourists.

I'm not trying to pin the blame for these cost overruns on Mr. Calatrava himself, but, wow, the guy just can't seem to catch a break:

Groundbreaking for Calatrava-designed Dubai Tower — (potentially) the world's tallest building

2016-10-11T16:03:00-04:00

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid on Monday "broke ground" on the world’s tallest tower – a structure that will define Expo 2020 as the Eiffel Tower defined Paris for its 1889 World Fair. "The new tower sets another challenge in the history of human architecture – a race the UAE deserves to lead," said Sheikh Mohammed [...]. The futuristic design, chosen by Sheikh Mohammed, was by Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava Valls [...].

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Dubai's ruler, laying the foundation stone for the 'The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour' project on Monday. (Image: WAM)

The structure's final height has not yet been revealed — the 1km-high Kingdom Tower, currently under construction in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, is also reaching for the title of 'World's Tallest Building.'

The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour project previously in the Archinect news:

Calatrava's megatall Dubai tower: engineers complete wind tests and seismic studies

2016-07-28T14:05:00-04:00

[...] has completed advanced wind tunnel tests on The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour, which is set to be 100 metres taller than the 828-metre Burj Khalifa when complete. Emaar said the wind tests were crucial in defining the final height and design aspects, while the project’s Spanish-Swiss architect Santiago Calatrava Valls added that they "were an important component in the structural design stage, and we have deployed innovative engineering techniques to confirm the strength of the new icon".

The Tower at Dubai Creek Harbour project previously in the Archinect news:

"It looks like a dove. Or a carcass": Christopher Hawthorne on Calatrava's Transportation Hub

2016-03-23T13:25:00-04:00

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey...has been so chastened by the cost overruns and construction delays that it declined to hold even a modest ribbon-cutting. When a bureaucracy turns down a major opportunity to pat itself on the back, you know things have turned sour. Turned acid, really. Still, everyone seems to agree that the main hall, which stretches beneath a glass and white-steel roof and which Calatrava calls the Oculus, is beautiful. But I didn't find it beautiful...

"...at least not in the way that Calatrava's finest work, fluid and precise, often is. I found it structurally overwrought and emotionally underwhelming, straining for higher meaning, eager to wring some last drops of mournful power from a site that is already crammed with official, semi-official and indirect memorials."

For related coverage of Santiago Calatrava's $4B "elaborate headstone in the crowded ground zero graveyard," as Hawthorne calls it, check out these links:

$4 billion later, Calatrava's eye-candy transit hub opens

2016-03-03T12:56:00-05:00

The hub opens on Thursday, or at least a part of it is opening, including most of the main hall, or Oculus, as it’s called. And at first blush, Mr. Calatrava’s architecture can almost — almost — make you forget what an epic boondoggle the whole thing has been. That virgin view, standing inside the Oculus and gazing up, is a jaw-dropper.

For a blow-by-blow of how Santiago Calatrava's transit hub came to be, check out Archinect's previous coverage:

Calatrava's Peace Bridge to open tomorrow in Calgary

2012-03-23T19:37:00-04:00

“It has been extraordinarily controversial and I made no bones of the fact that it’s not a project I would have supported if I had been on council at the time,” said the mayor. “But the thing is, it’s there. It’s an indelible and a permanent part of the landscape of our city. “It would all do us good to grow to love it.” The span, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, is officially pegged at $24.5 million, but is expected to cost more.

Calatrava: Hasta la Vista Denver!

2011-09-08T22:52:00-04:00

Noted international architect Santiago Calatrava has informed Denver International Airport officials that he and his firm are halting their work on DIA's South Terminal Redevelopment Program and are withdrawing from the venture. DIA officials said they intend to proceed with the project using designs already produced by the Spanish architect and his firm, Festina Lente.

Calatrava is apparently quitting over the speculation that the city & county of Denver does not have enough cash to complete the project to the level of quality that is befitting his name and the reputation of his firm.