Welcome to our collection of Santiago Calatrava quotes! Santiago Calatrava is a renowned Spanish architect, structural engineer, sculptor, and painter whose innovative designs have left an indelible mark on the world of architecture and beyond. With a distinctive style characterized by sweeping curves, bold lines, and a harmonious blend of form and function, Calatrava’s work stands as a testament to the power of creativity and imagination in shaping our built environment.
Throughout his illustrious career, Santiago Calatrava has articulated his philosophy and insights on architecture, engineering, and the creative process through a series of thought-provoking quotes. His words offer a glimpse into the mind of a visionary artist who continuously pushes the boundaries of design while remaining deeply rooted in the principles of beauty, functionality, and sustainability. Whether you’re an aspiring architect, a design enthusiast, or simply someone who appreciates the beauty of the built world, Calatrava’s quotes are sure to inspire and provoke new ways of thinking about the spaces we inhabit. Discover his wisdom and vision below.
When I found I could not figure something out, I decided to learn about it, until I knew as much as I could. It’s my way. Santiago Calatrava
The Freedom Tower has a cost overrun. A significant cost overrun. Santiago Calatrava
Being an architect is like playing piano, you learn to play to admire how well the other guys play piano. Santiago Calatrava
My goal is always to create something exceptional that enhances cities and enriches the lives of the people who live and work in them. Santiago Calatrava
I don’t go running after publicity. Santiago Calatrava
Architecture, like dance, is also a language – one that everybody understands. Santiago Calatrava
For people of the younger generation, the 21st century has started for them with a positive sign that Valencia is and will continue to be a very modern city. Santiago Calatrava
I’ve never been interested in pure movement or pure stability, but in the unstable. Santiago Calatrava
I always admired the U.S. as the country of the space shuttle, of technological achievement. Santiago Calatrava
I don’t see any difference between architecture and engineering. It’s the same profession. Santiago Calatrava
I would like to be an artist who works in a very closed ambience. Santiago Calatrava
My ambition is to give Oakland’s cathedral a universal character independent of the Catholic Church. Santiago Calatrava
Working with artistic people is very special, especially when they are so professional. Santiago Calatrava
We’re used to thinking of force as a stable phenomenon, but it has a cinematic variable, which is acceleration. Santiago Calatrava
My personality is more the personality of a painter. Santiago Calatrava
Airports need an identity, a main hall that defines the dignity of the space and allows people to move fluidly throughout its ancillary parts. Santiago Calatrava
I have always tried to create bridges that are more than a connecting structure – places in their own right. Santiago Calatrava
The world of sculpture precedes by many years the world of architecture. Santiago Calatrava
The function of arts centers goes far beyond being places for performance. They might not be explicitly religious, but they are civic and social spaces. Santiago Calatrava
You could say that I had become possessed, in the classical sense, by the art of the great architects of the past. And that led me to engineering. Santiago Calatrava
What architecture does is what a coat does for our body. It wraps us. Santiago Calatrava
I think it is important to build for people, and to deliver this message of hope: through good construction and a certain sense of progression, a better understanding of each other can be achieved. Santiago Calatrava
Think about what happens when architecture becomes ruins. All you have left are some little columns on a cliff, but it’s still such an overwhelming experience that you could say architecture is that which makes ruins beautiful. Santiago Calatrava
It is very important to visit the Oculus at a moment in which the skylight is open. Through the enormous 240? x 20? opening, we are framing a piece of Manhattan’s sky. Santiago Calatrava
The movement of many people through a building can be musical, if the movement is harmonious, rational, but full of life and feeling. Santiago Calatrava
You must understand the difference between being an architect and a politician. Architecture is a profession of perseverance. You have to come through. The politician is there to blame someone. Santiago Calatrava
Bridges join places that were separated. They are built for the sake of progress and for the average citizen. They even have a religious dimension. Even the word ‘religious’ comes from the Latin, meaning ‘creating a link.’ Santiago Calatrava
The idea of spirituality is difficult to discuss. Santiago Calatrava
Chicago is a beautiful city with a wonderful skyline. Santiago Calatrava
Women are the salt of our lives. They give it flavour. Santiago Calatrava
Because of the nature of the profession of architecture, the art of architecture nourishes itself from other disciplines. Santiago Calatrava
The bones of my architecture are very much related to the structure, to the physical fact of how a building can stand up; it’s also related to geometry and a certain understanding of the architecture in which there is a balance between expression and function. Santiago Calatrava
The Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco is for the community of San Francisco. And the Brooklyn Bridge, which is one of the most magnificent bridges ever built, is also a monument to the community, you see. Santiago Calatrava
What I do is the opposite of building walls. I build bridges. A bridge is something that connects instead of separating. Santiago Calatrava
As a student I travelled around the Mediterranean – the Greek islands and Salerno on the south coast of Italy. Santiago Calatrava
If I was not born in this lifetime in New York, certainly in a previous life, I was a New Yorker. Santiago Calatrava
When I work on sculpture, I don’t have to worry about function. When I work on a piece of architecture, I must think about function all the time. Santiago Calatrava
The architect works for so many years building it, and the moment you deliver it to the people is the moment when you are unnecessary. Santiago Calatrava
My architecture is very much place-related. Santiago Calatrava
A bridge is born of necessity, but it must establish its own identity. It should harmonize with its surroundings, and the design must transcend the purely local and transform the setting. Santiago Calatrava
I visited Notre Dame at 11 in the morning and the sun was entering through the south rose window, it was so impressive. This is when architecture can be king and give people sensations, like music. Santiago Calatrava
Architecture is one of the art forms best able to improve and revitalise cities both artistically and functionally. Santiago Calatrava
The two most important functional aspects to be fulfilled in a transportation facility are ease of wayfinding and easy orientation. Santiago Calatrava
Valencia is a pure Mediterranean city; it is a city like Naples or Palermo, like Rome a little bit. Walking in the old town has a little bit of the flavor of the old city of Rome. Santiago Calatrava
Not only did America invent the skyscraper, it invented the skyline. Santiago Calatrava
New York is not a place that lets you be indifferent. New York is this kind of place that, wherever you go, wherever you move, you are always confronted by your own time. Santiago Calatrava
Imagine for a second that the Golden Gate had not been built. This place in the San Francisco Bay would be one of the many beautiful places along the Pacific Coast – but that’s all. Once you put the bridge there, you distinguish it from any other place in the world. Santiago Calatrava
Many architects say that they will never do a bridge. But I think they will discover that just as Fallingwater is a piece of art, so Golden Gate is a piece of art of the 20th century. Santiago Calatrava
As an architect, you do not have control of who will build the building and who will have the capability. Santiago Calatrava
Bridges with cables very easily resemble stringed instruments. Santiago Calatrava
I just want to build the best buildings. It’s not about me, it’s about the buildings, creating a space where society can gather and marvel in beauty and nature. Santiago Calatrava
I like the word monument, because the word monument is a Latin word. Santiago Calatrava
There is so much vulgarity in the everyday, that when somebody has the pretension to do something extraordinary for the community, then you have to suffer. Santiago Calatrava
Architecture is a wrapping for the human body, and dance is the finest expression of the body. Santiago Calatrava
New York City has a tradition of great stations. There are cities in the world that don’t have that. New York has it. Santiago Calatrava
Something that’s very important is to preserve the sense of surprise, the sense of discovery. The eye of the person you are talking to, your shadow on the ground. It’s important not to get suffocated by all the things in life and lose that sense of surprise. Santiago Calatrava
A first building is like a first novel, it is always autobiographical. Santiago Calatrava
Bridges and stations are very strongly related to the development of a city. Santiago Calatrava
I remember, many years ago, coming over the Brooklyn Bridge in the night and seeing the skyline of Manhattan, with the Twin Towers. This was, for me, a kind of religious experience. Santiago Calatrava
The reality is that throughout my career I’ve tackled projects in Spain that I’m proud of. Santiago Calatrava
New York is the city of the 21st century. Santiago Calatrava
In my opinion, as an engineer, a bridge is the most difficult thing you can do. You are not working in the direction of gravity but against it – so the problem opposes the solution. Santiago Calatrava
It is an exceptional event to build a cathedral – it must withstand several lifetimes. Santiago Calatrava
Building a bridge, in my opinion, is a symbolic gesture, linked with the needs of people who cross over it, and with the idea of overcoming or surmounting obstacles. A modern bridge can also be a work of art. It helps to shape our daily lives and becomes a vital experience for all the people who use it. Santiago Calatrava
For the first project I did in North America, I was asked as an artist, not as an architect, to collaborate on a big development in the heart of Toronto. I was working with other artists and was in charge of giving form to a street, and I proposed a galleria. Santiago Calatrava
The Huashan project is a clear example of how an urban element, key to the successful growth of the city, can at the same time improve the quality of life for its citizens, thanks to an integration of all three bridges and the creation of boulevards on the banks of the canal. Santiago Calatrava
The first significant work I did was a railway station in Zurich called Stadelhofen. Santiago Calatrava
I paint and work as a sculptor, and I see architecture as an art… If you follow this approach you can use techniques to the service of man and to the service of an artistic idea, and beauty. Santiago Calatrava
There is a change in the view about how condominiums are designed. People used to make prototype apartments and reproduce these boxes hundreds and even thousands of times, and then ask people to conform. Santiago Calatrava
When I was in architecture school, I became curious about the exact mathematics, physics, and construction of the great structures I had been studying. I wanted to know how these amazing things would work: the Pantheon, the dome of Michelangelo, the dome of Brunelleschi. So I decided to study civil engineering. Santiago Calatrava
You have to live with the necessities of other people. Santiago Calatrava
My closest partner and the person I have been working with for 35 years has been my wife. She not only supported me and helped me but also framed my life. Santiago Calatrava
Many of the architects I admire have given the best of themselves as they mature. I’m hoping to do the same. Santiago Calatrava
I did not want to do stereotypical buildings. Santiago Calatrava
Rio de Janeiro has captured my imagination. Santiago Calatrava
When I moved to Switzerland to study at ETH Zurich I became fascinated by Swiss architecture. Santiago Calatrava
The difference between architecture and engineering comes in only with the creation of schools. It’s a bureaucratic distinction. The result of both disciplines is the construction of objects in a landscape. Santiago Calatrava
The city of Rio de Janeiro is setting an example to the world of how to recover quality urban spaces through drastic intervention and the creation of cultural facilities such as the Museum of Tomorrow. Santiago Calatrava
I have tried to get close to the frontier between architecture and sculpture and to understand architecture as an art. Santiago Calatrava
I always considered the role of teaching to be very noble and relevant. Santiago Calatrava
Like Grand Central Station, which is a marvelous building, the design and engineering of the Oculus will endure for many generations to come. Santiago Calatrava
I’ve always had a dream about New York. New York is an island… those bridges… the skyline… the dynamism. Santiago Calatrava
In the 19th and 20th centuries we saw nature as something to use to our profit, but the attitude of man towards nature in the 21st century will be a bit different. Santiago Calatrava
A railway station is something that can generate a city. Santiago Calatrava
Beautiful is difficult. I admire very much the courage of the people who have said, ‘Let’s do something different. Let’s try to see if our environment will be more beautiful and our city will be more beautiful.’ Santiago Calatrava
The Taj Mahal is a monument to love in all cultures. Santiago Calatrava
There is one way that architecture is superior to sculpture, and that is scale. You can walk into a building and have it all around you. Santiago Calatrava
You need to know a lot to become master of your profession. Santiago Calatrava
Bridges represent archetypal problems. They are artifacts that bring you across or around an obstacle. So they have an unbelievable force. Santiago Calatrava
The best is to go into a train station that I’ve built and buy a ticket. The guy in the ticket booth might recognize me, which is a marvelous feeling, but it might be that he doesn’t and I go in like any other passenger, except that I enter with a critical eye, looking to see how it’s held up. Santiago Calatrava
Something that has been every important to me in all my projects has been location, the place where they are installed. Santiago Calatrava
I have built already seven very large railway stations: one in Italy; two in Belgium; and in France, and in Switzerland, in Portugal, and also in the United States. And what happens is that stations are not things that come from one day to another, it takes many years. Santiago Calatrava
Some have tried to use my work for politics, using inaccurate or out-of-context information that, repeated enough, becomes truth to some even though it is not. Santiago Calatrava
I understand and accept criticisms of my work, provided they are done with professional criteria and arguments. Santiago Calatrava
I am an engineer, not just an architect, so I’ve always been motivated by technique or technology. As soon as technology moves just a little bit, it changes architecture. Santiago Calatrava
A new building should deliver a feeling of hope. Santiago Calatrava
My private work is touched by this destiny of understanding that architecture and engineering have a social character and can serve the community. Santiago Calatrava
Architecture is a code. It’s a pure code, derived from the dimensions of nature. Santiago Calatrava
Though I love the arts with all my heart – paintings, sculpture, theatre, and music – and think they are among the biggest achievements we humans can do, I am really convinced that architecture is among the most important. Santiago Calatrava
I became a fanatic of the architecture of Le Corbusier and I visited almost all his buildings and read all his books. Only later on did I discover that all the things that impressed me in his books, particular his ideology, he had picked up from Auguste Perret. Santiago Calatrava
