SANTIAGO CALATRAVA BONKERS?
Master Architect suffers barbs from Guardian journalist at the opening of his  magnificent Lieges -Guillemins train station. Is it a compliment when you get slapped in the face with one hand and patted on the head with the other? UK journo engages in double tounged smack down with Calatrava and his legacy.
SANTIAGO CALATRAVA ATTACKED AND PRAISED. WHAT??!!!!
World renowned architect Santiago Calaltrava has been compared to everyone famous from Frank Lloyd Wright to Leonardo Da Vinci and has now been forced into a contradiction of criticism by unfamous Guardian scribe Jonathan Glancey. The article which reports on the opening of the lighter-than-air Calatrava train station in Belgium, asks the question: Is Santiago Calatrava bonkers? This is in relation to his work in Valencia which has been heaped with scorn by the elite circles of the architectural world since its opening. Architectural Record, seemingly scared to invoke the great architect's wrath, used an unusual form of criticism to slam him. Fictional characters.

Regardless of the chattering class, Calatrava continues to turn out masterwork after masterwork. Some of them like the new train station in Belgium take a decade or more to reach completion. As his team of architects and engineers struggle to create new forms of architecture in spite of the constraints of budgets and client vacillations, the critics continue to circle. His World Trade Center Transportation Hub is gathering dust as behind-the-scenes struggles with  the politicians and Port Authority (The owner of the tragic and now beleaguered site) go on and on. Frank Sciame, the noted construction company owner has  scrapped the billionaire-ready project known as SkyCubes due to a lack of billionaire interest in the project. It turns out that architects with star quality can only go so far in selling a development. The Chicago Spire is another example of brillant architecture waiting to be built. What was hailed as the soon-to-be-world's tallest residential skyscraper has been halted due to a combination of complexities including the down turned market.
LINK TO: JONATHAN GLANCEY'S GUARDIAN UK STORY
LINK TO: SANTIAGO CALATRAVA WEB PREMIERE FILMS