Santiago Calatrava: Art Works - Laboratory of Ideas, Forms and Structures

Drawings and sculptures as the basis for architectural design Over the last 20 years, Santiago Calatrava has made literally thousands of drawings and paintings and more than a hundred sculptures. Many of his drawings show the human body - often in motion - alone, or in groups, or in an architectural context. Others show preliminary ideas which lead to constructions, details, sculptures, and buildings. This book contains a selection of over 200 drawings, water colours and deplctions of sculptures, chosen by the architect and the author because they are particularly well-suited to showing the significance of his artistic work as the basis for his architectural designs. A drawing is always the starting point for an entire laboratory of ideas. Many of the themes and forms which Calatrava investigates and develops on this level are subsequently transformed into sculptures and go on to provide the inspiration for his bridges, railway stations, airports, museums and even dining tables. This volume analyses how Calatrava’s creative ideas ripen and develop, from the initial drawings, to the sculptures, finally attaining completion in the realised buildings. At the same time, it examines the interfaces between the fine arts, engineering and architecture.