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Deconstructing Calatrava By Roi Bet Levi Tags: architecture, jerusalem  Several dozen students crowded into a small lobby in the school of architecture at Tel Aviv University last week to hear a lecture. But the main speaker, Dr. Santiago Calatrava Valls, barely uttered a word. The famous Spanish architect simply sat at a small desk, the kind used by elementary-school pupils, and sketched. A video camera placed in front of him projected his drawings on a screen. The students' glances darted between the screen and Calatrava's skilled hand; he was forced to draw upside-down so the pictures could be displayed properly. For an hour the only sounds heard came from Bach sonatas emanating from Calatrava's laptop, and the soft expressions of wonder from the audience. Calatrava's drawings were also accompanied by a photographic presentation of some of his works from the past 20 years. Every line in the architect's sketches revealed a corresponding line in the pictures of the buildings he has designed and built: An eyeball drawn on paper turned into a white dome at his train station in Lyon; brush strokes depicting a forest of trees with exposed branches morphed into pillars under the roof of the train station he designed in Lisbon; and the upper torso of a woman took on the shape of a residential building that twists and stretches - the amazing Turning Torso tower by Calatrava in Malmo, Sweden. Advertisement "This is the first lecture about architecture I have attended in which the speaker did not speak but we all understood him," summed up Hillel Schocken, head of the David Azrieli School of Architecture at Tel Aviv University, which granted Calatrava an honorary doctorate last Wednesday, "as a sign of appreciation for his tremendous influence on architectural discourse." "I thought it would be better to show the students how I work," Calatrava explained. "To explain to them without words that architecture is not only a matter of great debate and big decisions, but it's work, too. An architect has to sit for hours in front of the piece of paper and work - to create a dialogue with himself. To draw a line and then erase it, only to draw it again. Drawing is the laboratory of my ideas, their first expression. My hand motions speak even before my mouth is aware of them. That's how I work all year round - in a small space, with music in the background and with paper on the table in front of me. It can happen anywhere. At home, in the office or even on a plane." Santiago Calatrava, 57, was born in the small town of Benimamet, on the outskirts of Valencia, to a family with Jewish roots (on his mother's side) that owned orchards. He began to study art at the age of 8 and became a very talented artist and sculptor. The young art lover, who studied painting in Paris, discovered the world of architecture at the age of 17. He entered a stationery shop in Valencia to buy canvas, when the jacket of a thick book caught his eye. "There were drawings of yellow ellipses on the jacket, and inside the book I read for the first time about the work of Le Corbusier," he recalls. Later, Calatrava discovered mathematics, and learned to translate the outlines of the human body into absolute terms and to apply them to building plans for powerful skyscrapers. The passion for mathematics led him to doctoral studies in civil engineering at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. There he met his wife, Robertino Marangoni, a law student; the couple has four children. Calatrava later opened a small independent architecture firm in his adopted city of Zurich. This week Calatrava sat in Tel Aviv, wearing a conservatively cut beige suit and glasses with a very thin, almost invisible, gold frame. He has kinky black hair that refuses to surrender to a comb. An international businessman, with three big offices on two continents, he is extremely busy with tremendous projects, astronomical budgets and a very demanding schedule. "The DNA of my work is form," he says, trying to explain his architectural vision. "The physical question is: 'How can a building stand?' Buildings have a mystery that attracts you to them, and the architect has the job of deciphering this riddle to the best of his ability. A significant part of my work is based on the repetition of motifs, which is why some people say that my work is based on natural forms, because nature is based on repetitive motifs." The architect says he can talk about his vision for days on end, "but the simple truth is that architecture is only a pragmatic attempt to find answers to concrete problems. If the observer on the sidelines can add his own interpretation and additional values to this solution, that's wonderful, and the truth is that I'm often surprised when I hear the interpretations given to my works." Admirers and critics Calatrava's works grace Athens, Milwaukee, Seville and even Petah Tikva, among other places. In Israel he has designed two bridges: the one that connects the Rabin Medical Center in Petah Tikva with the Avnet Mall and municipal park; and the brand new "Bridge of Strings" at the entrance to Jerusalem, which will be used by the city's light-rail train. Both structures have many admirers, but many critics as well. Esther Zandberg, an architecture writer for Haaretz, wrote that Calatrava's works "have lost any logic of form," something she wouldn't have expected of an architect who is also an engineer. His works, she added, do not obey the laws of reduction, are weighed down under a huge burden of form bordering on decadence, and are tiresome with their plethora of "predictable surprises." On the other hand, author and culture critic Ariel Hirschfeld wrote recently in this newspaper's magazine that "[Calatrava's] bridges are a genuine environmental event, thrilling wherever they are found, and the Jerusalem bridge brings with it great ingenuity and a new type of presence that's a far cry from the ponderous Jerusalem architecture of the last generation ... a truly elegant line." Calatrava arrived in Israel last week both to receive the prestigious degree from Tel Aviv University, and to supervise firsthand the last stages of work on the controversial bridge in the capital. Asked whether he is aware of the criticism about his project, he replies: "Of course. I think that in our profession one of the most important things is transparency, for people to know what we're planning to do, how and when. As far as the bridge in Jerusalem is concerned, it was clear from the start that it had to meet criteria related to its function as a light-rail bridge. The fact that this is a bridge situated above tunnels, and that there are differences in height between Jaffa Street and Herzl Boulevard, turned it into a very complicated project. "In effect, 90 percent of the bridge's features were dictated in advance by external factors. This is not only an artistic caprice of mine. The bridge has to withstand tremendous weight: of the train, of the heavy machines that are building the tracks and of the large machines that are supposed to be able to repair the track or the train itself. It was important to me to add my own goals to all these dictates: to build a bridge that would also serve pedestrians. Anyone who wants to cross the bridge will be able to do so without being hindered by obstacles. For that purpose I designed a square where one can sit in the shade of trees. Only after all these decisions, which were dictated by the circumstances, the needs, the constraints and the wishes, came the turn of the design. Practically speaking, it may have been more convenient to build a bridge on pillars, a large number of pillars, but I chose to design and build a suspension bridge that would not force itself on the surroundings." There are quite a number of Jerusalemites who claim that that is exactly what the bridge does - that is it too big and too high. Calatrava: "I can only testify that I tried to design a delicate, upright, light bridge with modern lines. Moreover, when the moment of planning a structure, any structure, arrives, you have to think about the future, too. How the structure will look a few years from now. The area surrounding the bridge changes all the time, it has tall buildings, and according to the municipal plans, even taller ones are supposed to be built alongside. Therefore, the presence of the bridge relative to its surroundings will not be so prominent." Why in your opinion does this bridge arouse so many extreme reactions? "It's very important to me to point out that the bridge was not designed and built by stealth. Israel is a hyper-democratic country on every level and in every area of life. The designs of the bridge were approved only after the public had an opportunity to see them and to react to them. I came to Israel four times especially to defend the project before public committees. Moreover, I can only say that it's impossible to please everyone. I am usually suspicious of works that everyone likes. The string bridge in Jerusalem has a specific appearance and character. It's a unique bridge. I've never built one similar to it, and probably no other bridge like it will be built. And as such, not everyone can or has to like it." Asked whether he agrees with the cliche that bridges connect not only places, but people, the Spaniard replies: "There's no question that there's a very poetic aspect to building bridges. Throughout history they have played an important role in literature, poetry and painting. A bridge is a very important part of the life of every city. A bridge is an instrument of change. An opportunity to improve life in the city. Bridges connect various parts of the city, various residents of the city. But a bridge is not only a structure that connects, it's a place in itself. That's what's important to me when I begin to work on bridges, and what attracted me to them in the first place. In addition, a bridge also plays a role as a reference point, something signifying the identity or the myth of a city. If the bridge is really successful, we can identify the place, and sometimes even the city itself, by means of it, as in the case of the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, for example." Dancing above ground Calatrava says he seeks to emphasize the entrance to Jerusalem with his bridge - to construct a bridge that is also a gate. "Perhaps, 70 years from now, the city will grow and swallow up the bridge and it will no longer mark the entrance, but rather the center. But even so it will be a unique marker. It may be surrounded by tall buildings, towers that will overshadow it physically and symbolically, but I'm convinced that it will continue to stand out." And what about the pedestrian bridge in Petah Tikva? Do you anticipate a far-reaching future for it, too? "That bridge is more low-key, more local. Its function, in my opinion, is to serve the nearby hospitals. Moreover, it was built with private funding, with a relatively modest budget, and therefore it is hard to compare it to other bridges I've built, including the one in Jerusalem. For me the bridge is only a tool that is supposed to lend a little more beauty to the important and moving project of the hospitals [nearby]. Every time I visit, I'm amazed once again by the level of medicine and also by the level of compassion and generosity there. That's why I'm proud that my bridge, as small and modest as it may be, is located there, of all places." Construction of the bridge in Petah Tikva was accompanied not only by public criticism of its appearance, but also by a legal battle, after a dispute arose regarding ownership of the land on which one part of the structure stands. In addition there has been criticism about the fact that in the rain, the pavement on the bridge becomes slippery and dangerous. To whom does a bridge, or any other structure, belong after the construction work is completed? To those who commissioned it, those who designed it, or those who walk on it? "These structures are supposed to serve the people. Until the last day of work you can be responsible for everything that happens at the building site, but the day after, you're just another citizen. That's a lesson that every architect learns very early in his career. You can work on a project for six or seven years, take care of every detail, feel responsible for every screw, and after your work is finished you have to buy a ticket to ride on the train that leaves from the structure you designed, or undergo security checks at the entrance to the airport you built. That proves that buildings have a life of their own, and should be treated as an autonomous entity. They are born, they mature and they go their own way. What the architect has to do is to leave them alone and to take pride in the hard work that he, and many other people, invested in them." From time to time, at the most unexpected moments, a boyish giggle is emitted by this serious, soft-spoken man. This duality is also found in his works: He comes from a very classical school of art and architecture studies, but his works are blatantly modern. How does he explain this? "A person cannot forget or ignore his past and that of his country, but I always say I'm a creature of my time, of the period during which I was fated to live. I believe that a person has to be a living witness of his times, even if his roots are planted deep in another era. The intimate familiarity with the past is a very important part of cultural development. As long as it is done submissively, with self-effacement. You have to choose your great teachers and learn from them, from their successes as well as their mistakes - because there is no question that there were mistakes as well - and to embark on a path that is yours and yours alone." At the outset of his career, Calatrava focused on building bridges and train stations. In his first big project, the Stadelhofen train station in Zurich, one can see most of the prominent features that are repeated later in his work. The pillars that support elevated train stations are reminiscent of a raised hand; his first bridge, in Bac de Roda, in Barcelona, also hints at the greatest of his later works: The material attacks its environment with great momentum and demands attention. His sculpted architectonic works, which are usually made of iron, concrete and glass painted in clean and minimalist white, immediately become urban symbols that place the city in which they are located on the map of international architecture. His structures are not planted in the ground, they dance above it. Among Calatrava's outstanding works are the communications tower at the top of the Olympic stadium in Barcelona, the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, the new terminal in the Bilbao airport, the Milwaukee Art Museum, the Olympic stadium in Athens and the train terminal at the rebuilt World Trade Center in New York. Can one structure - a bridge, a train station or a communications tower - really change a city? "Of course. We must not forget that we are living in a very special period. The development of cities, especially in Europe and the U.S., has accelerated at a dizzying pace in the past decades. The population doubles or triples in a very short time, and as a result there is a need for new infrastructure, new houses, new public buildings. One of the important roles of the architects, of the builders of cities, is to respond to all the needs of the city in a manner in which it wants to be perceived. The added value of that is an improvement in the quality of life, a positive change in the city. That is what I pictured when I built the Center of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, the auditorium in Tenerife, or the Bac de Roda Bridge in Barcelona." Santiago Calatrava was a designer of buildings in which people are only transient visitors - bridges, train stations, terminals - before he began to plan structures where people live, work and create, like the residential Turning Torso in Malmo. How did that affect his work? "I never considered bridges only temporary places. On the first bridge I built, in Barcelona, I made sure there was a balcony. The bridge expanded and created a small square that overlooks a landscape. And, in fact, the bridge has many benches, where people can sit with their backs to the busy traffic behind them. However, in recent years, when I began to work on residential buildings, I understood that to do good work I had to change to some extent the way in which I view architecture. Suddenly I understood that architecture is the art that is closest to people, after the clothes we wear, of course. It's a very intimate thing. The space where you live, create, love, eat, pray and sleep envelopes you from all directions, it becomes your second skin. Your house also protects you from everything outside. It's a new field for me, and I think that only recently have I begun to understand that properly." 'Vertical city' Calatrava is now working on a residential building in Chicago, the tallest building in the U.S. designed for human residence. It will have 115 stories and 1,200 apartments, in which 3,000 people will live. "It's a vertical city, and during work on such a structure you have to use different tools. In this case, the intuition that served me well all these years gave way to a far more intellectual type of thinking, which necessarily affects the final result. It's a new and fascinating challenge." The building is called Chicago Spire, but everyone will call it "Calatrava's building," won't they? "I think that nobody will call it that. It's simply too difficult for Americans to pronounce my name." When asked his opinion of Israeli architecture, he replies: "Israel has strengthened my faith in people and their ability to perform miracles. Within 60 years the Israelis have built a successful country and created exceptional cultural institutions. Take for example the Philharmonic or Tel Aviv University and the Technion. They are very important in the world, although relatively these are very young institutions. It's a moving achievement. I remember that during one of my visits to Israel I got up early in the morning in Haifa and traveled to Jerusalem, and saw how the first light illuminated the new Trans-Israel Highway and all the new houses and public buildings that were built since my last visit. This country never stops surprising me, both in terms of the number of new buildings being constructed here and in terms of their quality." Is the fact that you have designed two projects here, and future endeavors are under discussion, testimony to your faith in Israel's architectural future? "Our works live on long after we leave the earth. That's true of beautiful buildings and also, unfortunately, of horrible ones. Nobody builds a building just to destroy it afterward. The structures we build are our legacy to future generations. They are a sign and a symbol of the stability of society, proof of its continuity. In Israel, perhaps more than in other places, one can sense this. The stones here talk and have a soul. Therefore we have to think carefully about what we do with those stones. We must think about the future when we're working in the present. Anyone who builds a specific building in any country has to believe in it." Alongside his ramified and successful architectural work, for which he has received a long list of prestigious prizes and monetary awards, Calatrava has also continued to draw and sculpt. He had an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and in important museums in Italy, Germany and Spain, among other places. During his summer vacations he spends most of his time in a small town called Manises, five kilometers from Valencia. "It's a region where they've been working in ceramics for many years. An area of simple laborers, from whom I learn how to improve my technique in creating ceramics." If you had to choose between sculpture and architecture, what would you choose? "That's an impossible question. A really cruel one. A fair and decent architect must be aware of the fact that his work is done by others. The reason for that is implied in his description. He is an 'arch-worker' (tekton is Greek for worker or builder). He is only the head worker - the one who sends the builders to build. To build a building or a bridge there is a need for many working, creative hands. The architect sits and draws, but the work is done by others. That's what I do, I draw, as I did in front of the students at the university, and then others breathe life into my drawings. "Over the years, and thanks to the stubbornness of my wife, who has collected most of my works, I have done over 90,000 drawings, which are kept in my archive. That's my work, that comes from my hands. Afterward, there's nothing more satisfying than harnessing the creativity and the diligence of so many people to your idea, so that they'll implement your vision. In the end, if everything works out, a large work of art is created that succeeds in touching people's hearts." Bookmark to del.icio.us   Scuba SMS Ultrasonic sound wave technology revolutionizes underwater communication. 'Hip-hop violinist' Israeli violinist participates in New York event, celebrating Israel's 60th anniversary.   1.   So The Bridge *IS* a Trojan Horse, After All 14:31  |  Ovadiah ben Avraham 25/05/08

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