Francisco Javier Sáenz de Oíza’sTorres Blancas, a
high-rise residential block looming over Madrid since
1968, shows how Franco opened the door to new,
international trends as a part of economic rehabilitation.
Super structures: contemporary architecture
Spain’s growing enthusiasm for architecture in Franco’s
later years exploded after his death. Gutsy homegrown
talent has given the nation an enviable array of bold
new structures, while the government’s generous
approach to funding has made Spain a magnet for the
world’s best architects. Among the Spaniards, two
names in particular stand out. José Rafael Moneo has
been lauded since the 70s, renowned for reconciling
modern architecture with a historical setting. His work is
generally understated, making subtle use of styles both
old and new. Madrid’s new Atocha railway station, a
forest of smooth concrete redwoods, and the Museo
Nacional de Arte Romano de Mérida, with its unadorned
arches of red brick, are among his native designs.
Moneo has also found success in the United States,
where he designed a cathedral for Los Angeles and won
architecture’s top trophy, the Pritzker Prize, in 1996.
Valencia’s Santiago Calatrava is more radical.
He walks the line between engineer and architect, using
the physical anatomy of a building to define it.
His buildings have a ribbed quality, with struts and
supports on show and exaggerated to form the design.
Calatrava is famous for his bridges, notably the Puente
del Alamillo in Seville, completed in 1992 for the
World Expo. Global fame was confirmed with the
development of Valencia’s Ciutat de les Arts i de les
Ciències, a centre for science and the arts, in the
late 1990s.
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- Identity: the
building blocks of
2. Literature
and philosophy
3. Art and
architecture
4. Performing
arts
5. Cinema
and fashion
6. Media and
communications
7. Food and drink 8. Living culture:
the details of
Santiago gives
New York the bird
Santiago Calatrava has
designed the new
transportation hub for
the former site of the
World Trade Center in
New York. His plan,
intended to resemble a
bird being released from
a child’s hand, should be
made flesh by 2009.
A Calatrava design was
also chosen for the
twisting Chicago Spire,
destined to be North
America’s tallest building
once complete in 2010.
The new Scottish
Parliament building in
Edinburgh was designed
by Catalan architect
Enric Miralles. It was
completed in 2004, four
years after Miralles’
death from a brain
tumour.
