Santiago Calatrava

SANTIAGO CALATRAVA VALLS (Benimàmet, Valencia, 1951).
"Kuwait Pavilion (Expo '92), Seville", 1992.
Mixed media (pencil and watercolor) on paper.
Signed and dated in pencil in the lower right corner.
Measurements: 17.5 x 23.5 cm; 27 x 33 cm (frame).

The Kuwait Pavilion for the 1992 Universal Exposition of Seville (Expo '92) is one of Santiago Calatrava's most poetic and technically representative works, where he explored in depth the concept of kinetic architecture (architecture with movement). The most spectacular feature of the pavilion was its moving roof. Calatrava designed a structure composed of 17 laminated wood ribs 25 meters long that could open and close.

Santiago Calatrava is a prestigious Spanish architect, civil engineer and sculptor whose work is world-renowned for fusing advanced engineering with an organic and anthropomorphic aesthetic that evokes skeletons, wings or the movement of the human body. Trained in Valencia and with a PhD from the ETH Zurich, his style is characterized by the use of dynamic structures of white concrete and steel, materialized in iconic projects such as the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, the Turning Torso skyscraper in Sweden or the Oculus interchange at Ground Zero in New York. Although he has been awarded the Prince of Asturias Award and the AIA Gold Medal, his career has also generated debate due to the recurrent cost overruns and technical challenges of his projects, consolidating himself as a figure who has transformed bridges and railway stations into sculptural monuments that defy the limits of conventional architecture.