| ||||||||||||||||||
 Trade In this Item for up to £0.25
Trade in Calatrava (Taschen Basic Architecture Series) for an Amazon.co.uk gift card of up to £0.25, which you can then spend on millions of items across the site. Plus, get an extra £5 when you trade in books worth £10 or more until June 30, 2012. Trade-in values may vary (terms apply). Find more products eligible for trade-in.
|
Frequently Bought Together
Product details
|
More About the Authors
Discover books, learn about writers, and more.
Product Description
Product Description
Santiago Calatrava is not only one of the world's most prominent architects, but is also an engineer, sculptor, and painter. His reputation as an unparalleled architectural engineer was cemented with his numerous bridges for cities around the world. With recent projects such as the stadium for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the new railway station in Liege, Belgium, he has unarguably made his name in Europe and continues to look further ahead. His work is closely related to his own drawings of the human body, and to his sculptures of geometric forms, inspired by the dynamics of movement and tension. Winner of the 2005 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the only architect ever to have his work exhibited at both the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Calatrava is one of today's greatest and most innovative architects. This book provides an introduction to and overview of his work to date. Every book in "Taschen's Basic Architecture" series features: approximately 120 images, including photographs, sketches, drawings, and floor plans; introductory essays exploring the architect's life and work, touching on family and background as well as collaborations with other architects; the most important works presented in chronological order, with descriptions of client and/or architect wishes as well as construction problems and resolutions; and an appendix including a list of complete or selected works, biography, bibliography and a map indicating the locations of the architect's most famous buildings.
About the Author
Philip Jodidio studied art history and economics at Harvard University, and was Editor-in-Chief of the leading French art journal Connaissance des Arts for over two decades. He has published numerous articles and books, including TASCHEN's Architecture Now! series, Building a New Millennium, and monographs on Salgado Calatrava, Norman Foster, Richard Meier, Alvaro Siza, Tadao Ando, and Renzo Piano.
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
What Other Items Do Customers Buy After Viewing This Item?
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Santiago Calatrava is an unusually talented architect. His architectural creations possess an awe inspiring beauty, elegance and purity.
The richly illustrated slim volume had on me an immense aesthetic and emotional impact. The spare text was insightful.
The book comprise an Introduction and the main body with the description of 19 projects illustrated with magnificent photographs but also sketches of the projects along with textual description of the underlying philosophy and guiding principles for each project.
The introduction includes information on the training of the architect comprising Art and Architecture in Spain and a Ph.D degree in civil engineering from the prestigious Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. As the architect explains, his creations emanate from a fusion of his three capacities namely those of the artist, architect and engineer. In an interview he describes his work as an "interwinement of plastic expression and structural revelation, producing results that possibly can be best described as a synthesis of aesthetics and structural Physics."
The architect acknowledges that his taste for simplicity in engineering otiginates from his observation of the work of the Swiss engineer Robert Maillart. With simple forms Maillart showed that it is possible to create a strong content and to elicit an emotional response. But though the architect admires the work of Maillart, still he differentiates his own work and particularly bridges. Maillart's bridges, observes Calatrava, are often set in a beautiful mountain scenery. His achievement was to introduce successfully an artificial element into such magnificent locations. Today, he observes, I believe that one of the important tasks is to reconsider the periphery of cities. Most often public works in such areas are purely functional, and yet even near railroad tracks, or spanning polluted rivers, bridges can have a remarkably positive effect. By creating an appropriate environment, they can have a symbolic impact whose ramifications go far beyond their immediate location. Calatrava's works are uplifting and even in purely fubctional projects such as a railway station or an auditorium he has the ability to add a dimension of spirituality.
Works presented include a number of bridges which constitute something of a signature design of the architect with an elegance bordering on the ethereal belying their underlying solidity; railway sations including the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, New York; Airport Communication Towers; the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee; the Tenerife Auditorium, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; and the Olympic Sport Complex, Athens.
The richly illustrated slim volume had on me an immense aesthetic and emotional impact. The spare text was insightful.
The book comprise an Introduction and the main body with the description of 19 projects illustrated with magnificent photographs but also sketches of the projects along with textual description of the underlying philosophy and guiding principles for each project.
The introduction includes information on the training of the architect comprising Art and Architecture in Spain and a Ph.D degree in civil engineering from the prestigious Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. As the architect explains, his creations emanate from a fusion of his three capacities namely those of the artist, architect and engineer. In an interview he describes his work as an "interwinement of plastic expression and structural revelation, producing results that possibly can be best described as a synthesis of aesthetics and structural Physics."
The architect acknowledges that his taste for simplicity in engineering otiginates from his observation of the work of the Swiss engineer Robert Maillart. With simple forms Maillart showed that it is possible to create a strong content and to elicit an emotional response. But though the architect admires the work of Maillart, still he differentiates his own work and particularly bridges. Maillart's bridges, observes Calatrava, are often set in a beautiful mountain scenery. His achievement was to introduce successfully an artificial element into such magnificent locations. Today, he observes, I believe that one of the important tasks is to reconsider the periphery of cities. Most often public works in such areas are purely functional, and yet even near railroad tracks, or spanning polluted rivers, bridges can have a remarkably positive effect. By creating an appropriate environment, they can have a symbolic impact whose ramifications go far beyond their immediate location. Calatrava's works are uplifting and even in purely fubctional projects such as a railway station or an auditorium he has the ability to add a dimension of spirituality.
Works presented include a number of bridges which constitute something of a signature design of the architect with an elegance bordering on the ethereal belying their underlying solidity; railway sations including the World Trade Center Transportation Hub, New York; Airport Communication Towers; the Milwaukee Art Museum, Milwaukee; the Tenerife Auditorium, Santa Cruz de Tenerife; and the Olympic Sport Complex, Athens.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
I found this little book definitely satisfying, and its quality/price ratio excellent, as it always is for Taschen editions.
A sensible introduction gives an interesting and not boring coverage of who Calatrava is as an architect and as a man,
and what kind of curriculum lead him to what he is today.
Afer this, come a series of short ( 2-4 pages)monographic pieces on his most significant works, from the early '80s to our days.
The number and quality of photographs is also excellent and they explain along with the text what is really important in each work.
Absolutely commendable!
A sensible introduction gives an interesting and not boring coverage of who Calatrava is as an architect and as a man,
and what kind of curriculum lead him to what he is today.
Afer this, come a series of short ( 2-4 pages)monographic pieces on his most significant works, from the early '80s to our days.
The number and quality of photographs is also excellent and they explain along with the text what is really important in each work.
Absolutely commendable!
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
I've been intrigued by Santiago Calatrava's architecture since seeing the station at Liege Guillemins in 2009, just before it was completed. At that point, not knowing much and wanting to find out more, I found this little Taschen book the perfect introduction. There are short (2-6 pages) chapters on each building and a 15-page introduction.
As a scientist at the interface between life sciences and physical sciences, I am of course particularly attracted to Calatrava's characteristic way of taking inspiration from soft, living, moving creatures and using it for his structures, giving them a life of their own. Biology shines through everywhere in his work, and the book is good in pointing this out, using some of the architect's sketches as well. The photos are brilliant, too, though it may well be physically impossible to make a boring photo of anything designed by Calatrava.
Most importantly, the book contains a world map with the locations of his buildings at the end, very handy for planning travels to see as many of his works as possible.
As a scientist at the interface between life sciences and physical sciences, I am of course particularly attracted to Calatrava's characteristic way of taking inspiration from soft, living, moving creatures and using it for his structures, giving them a life of their own. Biology shines through everywhere in his work, and the book is good in pointing this out, using some of the architect's sketches as well. The photos are brilliant, too, though it may well be physically impossible to make a boring photo of anything designed by Calatrava.
Most importantly, the book contains a world map with the locations of his buildings at the end, very handy for planning travels to see as many of his works as possible.
Would you like to see more reviews about this item?
Were these reviews helpful?
Let us know
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Related forums
|
Listmania!
|
|
Look for similar items by category
Look for similar items by subject
Feedback
- Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
- I am the Author, and I want to comment on my book.
- I am the Publisher, and I want to comment on this book.
|
