Pier Luigi Nervi and Santiago Calatrava - Protagonists of an Engineering-based Architecture - Research Paper Example

Pier Luigi Nervi and Santiago Calatrava Protagonists of an Engineering-based Architecture. Introduction A protagonist is a lead character or the player of a chief role in a certain aspect such as a play, a movie or an industry. Pier Luigi Nervi and Santiago Calatrava are chief players in the Engineering based architecture industry. They play a very major role in the industry. Their roles in the industry are similar. On juxtaposing them, it is clear that they are very much alike. Architecture is the entire process of designing and putting the design into action to produce a complete product. Engineering based architecture employs the principles of architecture in solving engineering problems. These include aspects like construction of buildings, roads, dams, aircraft, and vehicle. The engineer applies architectural skills to ensure that the engineering problem is solved. This is the field of operation of these protagonists. Pier Luigi Nervi and Santiago Calatrava have been in the engineering based architecture industry for years. Their work is magnificent. They are renowned the world over for their great work. They have Iconic structures which distinct them from the other players in the field. There role in the field is that of a kingpin. They are undoubtedly the protagonists. They work internationally. They serve all kinds of clients from all corners of the world. There role in the field cannot be matched by other players. They have set very high standards in the field that are a pace setter for the rest of the players to emulate. It is out of proper dedication and resilience that one is capable of achieving such a milestone. To be able to be a role model to even one individual of sound mind is a mountain to climb. The fact that these players I the industry are an icon for others from all over the world is clear evidence that they are the protagonists in the industry. Santiago Calatrava Biography Santiago Calatrava is a Spaniard who was born in Valencia in the early 1950’s. He is one of the most renowned engineering based architects. He is also a sculptor in addition to being an architect and a structural engineer. He got his first bachelors degree from the Polytechnic University of Valencia. He graduated with an honors degree in architecture. He followed this with a post graduate degree in urbanism. He later on moved to Zurich in Switzerland where he graduated with an honors degree in Civil Engineering from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology. It was until he got his doctoral degree that he began practicing his engineering and architecture. He wrote a thesis on Space Frames foldability. Calatrava’s engineering background. Calatrava spend his early career in engineering based architecture concentrating on bridges and train stations. This was in the early 1990s. Even at this early stage of his career, he came up with projects that were revolutionary in nature. He changed the horizon for the engineering based architectural industry. His designs were magnificent. He was very lucky to be granted a spotlight at the early stage of his career by the international Olympic Games. These games were hosted in Barcelona in his home country of Spain. He had just completed his Muntjuic Communications Tower. This was right in the middle of the Olympic site. With the full glares of the worldwide cameras, he stole the show with his design. It was a spectacle. This was followed by the Allen Lambert Galleria in the Canadian capital of Toronto. These projects marked the point of revolution in his career. He never looked back. Since then things have never been the same again in his line of work. He has risen to be an icon. He is a protagonist in the field. His techniques to link architecture and engineering in his design Calatrava is more like a genius. He employs the great architectural skills and background that he has into the civil engineering skills and background that he again has to come up with state of the art designs. His designs give other architects an eye opener. They are amazed with the fact that certain aspects of construction are actually possible. They get the heads up that was lacking in the industry. Calatrava is never afraid to try out new designs. He comes up with designs that have never been used or tried before and uses them. He in fact puts them into large scale application without twitching. One of the most daring designs that Calatrava put into large scale application was the Turning Torso. This was put up in Malmo in Sweden. The building is 54 stories tall and is a twisting tower. This is a one of a kind technique that links architecture and engineering. Calatrava is renowned the world over for clearly contrasting architecture and structural engineering. Calatrava’s designs are a modern continuation of the traditional Spanish design. His technique has a personal touch and feel. The designs are based on aspects of the human body as well as those of the natural world. His structures are not only strong as a good engineer is supposed to ensure his structures are, they are also artistic. They are beautiful and artistic. One can actually make a drawing or painting of these structures and make a lot of money out of selling them. His Projects Right before the early stages of Calatrava’s career, while still in school he undertook a notable project. He alongside a few others of his comrades at school carried out an independent project. This project resulted in the production of two books. These boos were in the Ibiza and Valencia vernacular architecture. It was a commendable project that went down in the books of history. Students of architecture and engineering still benefit from the fruits of that project. Calatrava is responsible for a long array of great projects all around the world. One of the most notable among them is the 80 South Street. This is residential building in New York City in the United States of America. It is a skyscraper in 80 South Street. This building is notable for its unique design. It has houses which are shaped as cubes and staked on top of one another. They are designed in a way that follows a main beam which moves up. The pattern is more like a staggered ladder. Every house is in such a way that it has its own roof. Another one of Santiago Calatrava’s great projects is the Trinity River Bridges. These are intended to cut across the Trinity River in Dallas in Texas in America. They are a number of spectacular bridges which are intended to span the river at strategic points. The project is already underway and on the verge of completion. It is funded by donors and well wishers. One of the notable donors shall have the fist bridge named after her going by the name of Bridge Margaret hill Hunt. A notable and rather old project of Calatrava is the TGV railway station in the city of Lyon in France. This station was officially open back in 1993. The station building majorly consists of steel and concrete. There are six tracks laid in the station in a cutting. The two at the middle allow trains to cruise at full speed. There is a foot bridge which joins the railway station to the Lyon Airport. Another remarkable railway station that is a project attributed to Santiago Calatrava is the Lisbon Orient Station which is in Lisbon in Portugal. Works on the project was completed in 1998. It is a regional hub of transport. The project also incorporates a shopping mall, a station for police and an international bus terminus. It is among the largest stations in the world. It is a spectacular work of art and engineering. Study Case: Planetarium of the Valencia Science Center, 1991-1998 Valencia, Spain. This is one of the magnificent projects that Santiago Calatrava undertook. It is recreation centre with urban facilities that accommodate several people at a go. It was put up on the river bed of the former River Turia. The river dried up. Its total land area is approximately three hundred and fifty thousand square meters. The design of the project was done almost entirely by Calatrava. Valencia is his home town and this project was too close to his heart. He gave it his all. Concrete that is purely white was used. Shattered tile fragments were also used as material for the project. There is a promenade, approximately seven kilometers long, which has two bridges designed by Calatrava crossing it. Pier Luigi Nervi: Biography Pier Luigi Nervi was an Italian structural engineer and architect who lived between 1819 and 1979.He went to the University of Bologna where he studied civil engineering. He moved on to the Society of Concrete Construction. During the frst world war, he served the Italian Army as a graduate engineer. He rose to become a professor at Rome University in the discipline of engineering. He moved on to become a professor at Harvard University. Nervi’s engineering background Soon after the war, Nervi began commercial engineering practice. One of the first projects he undertook was building airplane hangars. He got comfortable in the commercial industry and was very reputable. His works sold his name extensively. His reputation grew very immensely. He got tenders from clients every very often. At an advanced stage in his career, he came up with the idea of a reinforced concrete. This was met with a lot of excitement from the industry. It was quickly emulated by the players in the industry. Soon buildings all over Western Europe were constructed in this fashion. Quite remarkably again, the reinforced concrete was used by the Italian Government as a promotion by using a boat hull created from this design. His techniques to link architecture and engineering in his design Nervy lived at a time when education was relatively less advanced as compared to the modern day and age. During this period, building construction engineers, especially in Italy were considered as architects. There was no formal distinction between the two in terms of academic qualification. The technology of the day was rather primitive as compared to the modern technology and techniques of construction. The world was still in a revolutionary stage in the disciplines of engineering and architecture. Nervy nevertheless had very aesthetically pleasing designs. These were employed in the construction of major projects. They depicted his mastery of architecture and its application in solving engineering problems. At this time there was an increased number of projects. This increase came as a result of the newly established mode of construction of using steel and concrete. Nervy took full advantage and showcased his prowess and techniques in engineering based architecture. His Projects Nervy mostly worked in his home country of Italy. This is where majority of his projects stand erected. He however also undertook some incredible projects in countries abroad. Notable among them is the George Washington Bridge Bus Station. This is situated in Manhattan in anew York City in the United States of America. The owners and managers of the station are New York and New Jersey Port Authorities. It serves close to one thousand buses and seventeen thousand passengers on a daily basis. It was officially unveiled I 1963. Its design makes use of trusses that are reinforced by steel. These are huge and enormous. The building has busts together with murals of the first American president. The project was awarded the Concrete Industry Board’s Award of 1963. In his native country of Italy, Nervy is reputed for the project of the Stadio Flaminio. This is a stadium which was put up in Rome in 1969. It is a state of the art design of the time. It is fully equipped for sporting activities having in it gymnasiums, swimming pools, boxing rings, wrestling rings and rooms for fencing. It at some point served as the home ground for the Italian National Team of Rugby. It is capable of accommodating up to thirty two thousand spectators. Study Case: Palazzetto dello Sporto, Small Gymnasium 1957. This is one of the several projects which Nervy undertook in his native country of Italy. It was purposely put up for the Summer Olympics of 1960. Its official opening came a little bit earlier in 1957. It was designed to accommodate three thousand five hundred spectators who are seated. During the Olympics, the arena mostly hosted basketball matches. It is currently used for volley matches. The design of the arena was one of a kind at the time of its construction. It has a dome that is about 60 meters in diameter. The dome is made from ribbed concrete. The various elements of the dome were constructed separately. They were prefabricated, pending over whole assembling. The entire assembling of the dome was therefore rather simple. It took just over a month to put the dome together. Similarities and differences Pier Luigi Nervi and Santiago Calatrava are both very renowned engineering based architects. There work has been documented in several books of history. They are known for their great works of art. At the mention of their name, heads are turned. They have practiced engineering based architecture for decades. They both gathered sufficient experience in the field. They are accorded high respect in the field. Nervi and Calatrava both also made revolutions in the engineering based architecture industry. They both came up with unique techniques of erecting structures. Nervy came up with the technique of reinforcing concrete with steel. This marked a turn around point in the construction industry. All constructors made use of this technique from then onwards. Calatrava on the other hand came up with the modern architectural designs that actually distinguish structural engineering from architecture. His designs are so artistic. They have a personal touch. This has marked the new way of design in the construction industry. It is a revolution in the industry. Both Nervi and Calatrava got the attention of the world through the Olympic games. Nervi designed the Palazzetto dello Sporto which was used for the Summer Olympics of 1960. This is a worldwide event which attracts the attention of all stake holders in the construction industry the world over. Calatrava on the other hand was put on the spotlight by the 1992 international Olympic Games in Barcelona in his home country of Spain. He had just completed his Muntjuic Communications Tower. This was right in the middle of the Olympic site. Rather differently though, Nervy practiced engineering based architecture at a time when the construction technology was relatively low. He preceded Calatrava in the industry by about half a century. At this time the construction equipment were less sophisticated. The competition in the industry was also relatively low. Calatrava on the other hand is a modern day designer. He has the aid of the modern design equipment like computer designing and drawing software. These two engineering based architects therefore are not able to be matched on an equal platform. It is only fare to evaluate each in accordance to the standards of his time. Nervy’s designs are relatively primitive as compared to the more sophisticated and advanced designs of Calatrava. Nervi and Calatrava also did not spread their work across international borders in an equal fashion. Most of the projects that Nervy undertook were concentrated in his native country of Italy. In fact, there are only a handful that were exploited outside of Italy. On the other hand, Calatrava has is projects spread all over the world. He has several projects that he has undertaken in his home country of Spain, but at the same time he has several others in countries across the world. Calatrava in fact has offices located in more than seven different countries across the world. Conclusion Pier Luigi Nervi and Santiago Calatrava are indeed the protagonists in the engineering based architecture industry. They have shown the world the way to go in terms of designing of buildings. They have perfectly blended the principles of engineering and architecture. There work is a true manifestation of their leading role in the industry. They are the pace setters of their respective times in the industry. Apart from the slight negligible differences that they have, they are similar in several ways. They play equal roles in the drama of engineering based architecture. Works Cited D. 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