![]() ![]() I use this comparison because the Venetians built the bell tower of San Marco, an important landmark of Venice, and then on the opposite side of Il canale della Giudecca they built San Giorgio Maggiore, another very tall tower.”Īs the façade of San Giorgio and all the houses is mirrored by the canal, the flat city becomes a cityscape – just like Dubai, he explains. Formally they are very different, but it creates a relation between one side and the other. ![]() ![]() It will be the focal point for Dubai Creek Harbour, a 6km-squared new district proposed in Dubai and will produce, says Calatrava, an “answer” to the other side of the Creek. Creating neighbourhoods with a clear identity is fundamental.”ĭeveloped by Emaar Properties, also responsible for the Burj Khalifa, the RFP for the tower was sent out to firms worldwide, with His Highness Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum, the Ruler of Dubai, selecting Calatrava’s design in 2016. “I can live in New York, but also in Brooklyn, Lower Manhattan, the Bronx, Jersey City. “Many of our historical cities work as a whole, but there are also very different and particular neighbourhoods,” he says. This structure, after all, will be the defining point of his work in the Middle East. In Dubai his perception is relatively unformed, but he is keen to assign a clear identity to the city. Big but never ominous, futuristic but never alienating – his latest challenge is creating a new skyline. Oft-described as neo-futuristic, they are known for their bright white palette, sinusoidal curves and unique structural idiosyncracies, be that leaning pylons or rotating towers. His structures do have visual similarities. ![]() To others he is whimsical creating forms that include two sundials (in Barcelona and California), or a Minecraft-esque winery in the Cantabrian foothills. To some, he is best known for a dedication to public transport – see the aforementioned New York station, or Portugal’s answer to Grand Central, Gare de Oriente. His choice of structure, too, is diverse. To the Spanish, he is city-maker – creating seven distinctive structures within his overarching Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències. To the Americans, the somewhat controversial figure behind the US$4 billion World Trade Centre transportation hub (the New York Times complained it wasn’t gritty enough). Different people know him for different landmarks: to the Swedes, he is the designer of the revolutionary Turning Torso in Malmö, the first twisting skyscraper in the world. Born in Valencia in 1951, Calatrava is known for his steadfast non-adherence to a single movement or school of architecture, as well as his stuctural background – as well as a doctorate in architecture he has a degree in civil engineering, which some accredit to the resultant structural complexity of his works. His resulting reasoning shows why he was perhaps the only architect for the job of designing Dubai Creek Tower – estimated to be the tallest tower in the world on its scheduled completion in 2020. “I thought yes,” he decisively concludes, “and I’ll tell you why”. Here were plans for another monolith that was at once too close to a preexisting tall tower – the Burj Khalifa sits directly opposite on the other side of the Creek – and at the same time, too far away from the city centre of Dubai: its site a nondescript zone next to a flamingo sanctuary and accompanying marshland. The concept did seem, to some, counter intuitive. “The first question that came into my mind was, did it make sense to do such a tall building in this place?”Ĭalatrava leaves a pregnant pause after this question. 3 March 2019 Can a record-breaking skyscraper be discreet? Santiago Calatrava’s idea for a new structure, and resultant city-form in Dubai, pays credence to the theory ![]()
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