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Tag: Santiago Calatrava

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Published on 1 Comment on Contemporary Architecture in Spain: Bilbao Airport, Basque Country

On 19th November 2000 during the inauguration of La Paloma, the Bilbao International Airport, architect Santiago CALATRAVA announced that the new terminal was “a message of love to Baskland”.

White and very expressive, Bilbao International Airport is a gigantic three storey block of steel and glass with a sharp silhouette expressing the idea of flight and the leap that the metropolitan area had begun to take.

The steel and concrete structure , nicknamed La Paloma (the Dove) because of its resemblance to a giant bird about to take flight, is integrated into the hilly green landscape in the Txoriherri Valley in close proximity to Bilbao. The aluminium skin of the Central Terminal sweeps across the 140 meter long terminal entry, providing cover for multiple levels of arrival and departure.

The layout was designed to limit the impact of auxiliary buildings on the vista of the main building. An elegant four-story parking structure, with a skylit walkway leading to the Terminal Building, is tucked into a grassy embankment.

Bilbao Airport - Contemporary Architecture in Spain: Bilbao Airport, Basque Country
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Published on 1 Comment on City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain

Valencia is a city that ideally combines the vestiges of the past, which go back to the year 138 BC, with the impressive construction of the present. The most important modern tourist destination in the city of Valencia is the City of Arts and Sciences (Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias).

The very impressive City of Arts and Sciences is a cultural and architectural complex designed by Santiago Calatrava and Felix Candela which has become an international landmark.

View 360 degree panoramic photo of the City of Arts and Sciences

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia Spain 21 - City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain

Spread out over two kilometers along the bed of the former River Turia, the complex, with its striking architecture, has an endless capacity for entertaining and stimulating the minds of its visitors.

The Mediterranean blue and white, the traditional colors of sea and light, blends with the avant-garde architecture of Santiago Calatrava and Felix Candela. Their bold strokes provide a futuristic image that symbolizes the new Valencia as a modern city within the age old city.

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia Spain 15 1024x682 - City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain

The futuristic City of Arts and Sciences contains a number of buildings that allow visitors to immerse themselves in different aspects of art, nature, science and technology.

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia Spain 18 e1346415101882 1024x705 - City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain

Highlights include: the Hemisferic (an Imax theater, planetarium and laserium built in the shape of an eye), the Umbracle (a landscaped walkway which includes plant species indigenous to Valencia and an outdoor art gallery with sculptures from contemporary artists including Yoko Ono and others), the Principe Felipe Science Museum (an interactive museum of science which resembles the skeleton of a whale), the Oceanografico (an open air oceanographic park which is the largest aquarium in Europe with over 500 marine species) and the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia (an opera house and performing arts center).

Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències in Valencia Spain - City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia, Spain

View 360 degree panoramic photo of the City of Arts and Sciences

Related link: Properties in Valencia

Source: SpainHouses.net