I was driving to an event last week and I saw the new Santiago Calatrava bridge going up just outside downtown Dallas. It has been a long time in coming – ten years. I thought to myself – Dallas really is becoming a great destination location for Architecture. You might remember the post I wrote a few weeks back on our Arts District – where you can find world class projects from I.M Pei, Renzo Piano, Sir Norman Foster + Partners, REX/OMA, Joshua Prince-Ramos and Rem Koolhaas, Edward Larrabee Barnes, and Allied Works’ Brad Cloepfil. We even have the Perot Nature Museum by Morphosis on the way.
Yes indeed, a fine city. We have awesome Mexican food, oil money (good for architects) and some fantastic architecture. Let’s not forget about Fort Worth, a short 25 minute drive where you can see the Kimble Art Museum by Louis Kahn (one of the best buildings ever), and the Fort Worth Modern by Tadao Ando. There’s more but I’ll save that for a later post.
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So I am telling my wife about how cool it is that WE will have a Santiago Calatrava Bridge – 3 actually if all that are planned get built (as of this writing, the first two are funded). Dallas, along with the town Haarlemmermeer, in the Netherlands, will be the only city with three Santiago Calatrava bridges. Scoreboard other cities, phhhttttttt!
As I am basking in the glo of my awesome city, my wife says:
Michelle: “So what, everyone has one” Bob: (falling over coffee table backwards) “What did, aahheeemmmpphh!!” “What?” Michelle: “Yea, everyone has one so they are kinda commonplace” Bob: “Whateve …. that’s not true … jeez, I’m not just some guy in the next cubicle, I’d think I’d know if everyone had one.” Michelle: “Strong argument there Captain Awesome, look it up”.
So I did look it up … and there are a lot of Santiago Calatrava bridges out there:
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- Samuel Beckett Bridge
2009, Samuel Beckett Bridge, bridge over River Liffey, Dublin, Ireland
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- Ponte della Costituzione Bridge
2008, Ponte della Costituzione footbridge from Piazzale Roma over the Grand Canal, Venice, Italy
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2008, Chords Bridge at the entrance to Jerusalem, Israel, a light rail bridge
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2007, 3 Bridges on the A1 Motorway and TAV Railway, Reggio Emilia, Italy
2005, The bridge connecting the Ovnat shopping mall and the Rabin Medical Center (Beilinson) in Petah Tikva, Israel
2004, Three bridges (called Harp, Cittern and Lute) spanning the main canal of the Haarlemmermeer, Netherlands
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2004, Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay, Redding, California, USA
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2003, James Joyce Bridge, bridge over River Liffey, Dublin, Ireland
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2001, Puente de la Mujer, in the Puerto Madero barrio of Buenos Aires, Argentina
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1995, Trinity Bridge, footbridge over River Irwell, Salford, England
- Campo Volantin Footbridge
1994-1997, Campo Volantin Footbridge, Bilbao, Spain
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1994, Mimico Creek Bridge, Humber Bay Parks, Toronto, Ontario
1992, Puente de Lusitania, Mérida, Spain
1992, Puente del Alamillo, Seville, Spain
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1984-1987, Bac de Roda Bridge, Barcelona, Spain
Alameda Bridge and metro station, Valencia, Spain
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Okay, big deal, so there are a lot of Santiago Calatrava Bridges out there. This is a good thing and I am excited to see the first bridge break ground and start the construction process. It’s just one more piece of evidence that leaders of Dallas has finally decided to place Dallas on the architectural destination map and make this a city worth visiting.
Maybe … I’ll even get out of the car next time to take a proper picture.
Probably not.
If you want to learn a little more about the Dallas Santiago Calatrava Bridges, please visit the Trinity River Corridor website for all the latest news
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