high-tech engineering,
structures could move and
transform themselves. The
same year, he set up his own
architectural and engineering
practice in Zurich, then
later opened offices in Paris,
New York and Dubai.
Today, ideas of motion
continue to pervade his work,
having started in the early
1990s to add mobile aspects to
his buildings through doors,
windows and roofs that could
shift and open up in new ways,
modifying a structure’s shape.
His creations curve, arch,
twist, fold and lean. In New
York City, his World Trade
Center Transportation Hub
consisting of steel ribs andglass – its shape representing
a bird released from a child’s
hands – features a colossal
operable skylight framing a
slice of the sky, which opens on
temperate days and annually
on Sept 11. For his expansion
of the Milwaukee Art Museum,
he created a moveable brise-
soleil with massive louvres
that open and close like
the wings of a giant bird.
He explains: “When we
speak, we usually gesture
with our arms and hands;
when the wind blows through
nature, trees and foliage move,
ripples and waves are created
in water bodies. Nature is
something that transforms
itself; something that is alive,65
- An art
installation that
Santiago created
for his collection
Vertical
Sculptures. - The Xihu
bridge is
one of three
bridges that
Santiago was
commissioned
to build for the
city of Huashan
in China.