Krystyna Januszkiewicz

Ph. D. in Architecture
Faculty of Architecture
Cracow University of Technology

Bionics and Santiago Calatravas works

Bionic is not only a formal sequence in Calatravas work. His sensuous interest in
beauty is often based on bodily metaphors, animal skeletons as well as human
gestures and movements. Such natural references add scale, shape and dynamism to
the design. Calatrava often looks for the best engineering solutions in life-forms. This
transfer between natural life forms and synthetic constructs is desirable because
evolutionary pressure typically forces natural systems to become highly optimized
and efficient. Today new materials and technologies are generating exciting
structures and spatial forms. Calatravas best know works could show many
biomimetic or biomimicry references. The artist-engineer often imitates things as
they are in the real world He are using especially a human body its dynamic of
movement and tension to creation architectural and engineering projects. Although
the modern world is new requirements we should search established relations to
man-nature-technology.

Santiago Calatrava (1951) inheriting the achievements of the art of engineering,

like his significant predecessors: Robert Maillart (1872-1940), Pier Luigi Nervi
(1891-1979), Eduardo Torroja (1900-1961) and Felix Candela (1910-1997), goes
far beyond their approach. For these engineers, the design was the result of efforts
to strike a balance between the scientific criteria of efficiency and the innovation of
created forms. Engineering is the art of these possibilities, Calatrava believes, and
is looking for new vocabulary of forms, which is based on expertise, not only on a
praise of technical solutions [1]. Analyzing Calatrava's structures, Nervi's words
can easily be recalled: It is difficult to provide reasons for the rapid acceptance of
the forms, which reach us from the physical world (...). Why are these forms
satisfying and moving us in the same manner as natural forms of flowers, trees and
landscapes, to which we have become attached over many generations? [2].

Following Kant's Enlightenment philosophy, Santiago Calatrava relieves it a bit by

displaying the beauty that often comes with metaphorical captures of animal skele-
tons, structures of flora and fauna, as well as human movements and gestures.
These references to the forms of nature, their shape and dynamics, are easily
recognizable in his structures. They are not merely a product of the sculptor's
imagination, but they have a foundation in the knowledge comprised in bionics,
a new discipline of science founded in 1960. However, bionics is not only a mere
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application of biological knowledge to solve technical problems. This is a much

wider area. It includes examination of the ways which nature uses to solve various
issues. And the ultimate goal is to use them to build miscellaneous devices and for
their functioning, as well as for various types of construction. Santiago Calatrava
designing his structures is well aware of the fact that not all the solutions created
by nature are proven suitable for the use at the level of modern technique and
technology. Therefore, he does not copy them, and even avoids the technology.
Knowing the structure of, and processes taking place in, living organisms, he uses
this knowledge to create new constructions of bridges as well as architectural struc-
tures. However, forms and shapes which are created by nature, for Calatrava are
a new source of creative inspiration in the search of innovative designing solutions.

Telecommunications Tower on the hills of Montjuic (1989-1992) in Barcelona,

shows how the work and the distribution of forces in the human body can become
an inspiration for the designing and architectural solutions (Fig.1).

1. Telecommunications Tower in Barcelona 2. S. Calatrava's concept sketches [1]

(photo: K. Januszkiewicz)

This tower, with a height of 130 meters, was built to celebrate the Summer
Olympic Games. Its shape was formed having studied the forces and strains in the
body, characteristics for several sport disciplines. As a result, the pose of a runner
igniting the Olympic torch was selected. The sketches clearly show the figure in
motion - legs bent at the knees and the arms in triumph lifting the Olympic flame
(Fig.2).
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The design of the train station in Liege

won the first prize in the international
competition held in 1996, and was to be
executed. It will handle the TGV fast train
from Brussels to Liege, and in the future,
Berlin.

S. Calatrava watercoler [1]

Almost every designing task begins with the

analysis of the complexity of the problem and
their synthetic expression, which are often
developed in the form of sketches for the client
during a brainstorming session with the
consultants. Also quick sketches in pencil or
watercolor are then created, which appeal to the
imagination. Then, already complete concepts
are prepared and solution options are presented,
which makes it easier to achieve compliance of
attitudes and opinions in terms of approach and
solution of presented problems.

4. S. Calatrava crayons, koncept sketch [1] 5. TGV train stadion in Liege (1996) model [1]

In the project of the TGV railway station in Liege (1996), the human body shapes,
smooth lines and planes of structural systems with complex vital functions
intersecting each other, proved inspirational (Fig. 3-5). Free form was created,
which as a whole was only subject to the laws of its structure. The geometry is only
of secondary importance here and does not specify the total conformation. The
shape of the building it is the result of the free combination of parabolas and
sinusoids. However, despite the general concept of complete freedom, it is not
arbitrary or accidental, but an unequivocal, orderly design. It is about some
subordination of the form to the natural laws of the load-bearing system. We must
not forget that even in the most free-forms of nature there is a repeated geometrical
order, especially when the whole is not a defined geometrical solid.
.
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6. S. Calatrava, conceptual skeches of transmiting loads [1]

Due to the shock wave, the TGV

tracks were isolated by the system
of caisson and acoustic shields
(Fig.7).
Calatrava found the idea of this
design in the human body and his
work at variable loads. Standing
side by side with their legs apart,
like a parade of athletes, are able
to support the roof. Nature has
adapted the human to physical
loads. (Fig. 6)

7. TGV stadion in Lyon view of acoustic shields (photo: K. Januszkiewicz)

Lyon - Satolas TGV station was the result of the competition held in 1989.
Santiago Calatrava, working for years in Zurich, was already known as the most
talented designer of bridges since the times of Maillart. His portfolio comprised
some 40 projects, including those executed in Switzerland and Spain. The victory
in this prestigious competition brought international fame to Calatrava, and the
executed project resulted in a revolution in understanding of architecture and
engineering.
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8. S. Calatrava conceptual sketches [1]

The bionic form is determined by steel tendons. The hall
is huge - 120 meters long and 100 meters wide, with the
height of 40 meters. Light steel structure comes out here
in its fullness. It is aggressive and seems to float, held
back only with the sharp ridge of the side walls. Steel
elements mimic the spine and spread wings which,
vibrating in the sun, cast sharp shadows. It creates
a perfect backdrop for the monumental arches and
dynamically formed balconies. They were made in
reinforced concrete in the shape of giant birds' tongues.
9. Dimensional scheme [3]

10. TGV train stadion in Lyon view in dusk (photo: K. Januszkiewicz)

Turning to other experiments with the balance and dynamism of curved roofs,
Calatrava has created a new super-structure. He placed it in the center of the station
as a linchpin for the two parts of the covered platforms of 500 meters each. This
unusual structure resembles with its appearance a huge bird or insect, which spread
its wings getting ready to fly or, as the author himself admits, a huge man's eye
with an open eyelid. This is the station hall. TGV tractions appear below, in the
cutting covered with openwork reinforced concrete structure. Its delicate and
refined shapes resemble the world of plants and animals. He used the same mate-
rials as Eero Saarinen at TWA Terminal (1956-1962), who also reached for the
metaphor of a building soaring in the air. However, the work is more expressive
and dramatic, light and subtle. This frozen motion is another fascinating expe-
riment with the laws of statics.
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11. Arts and Sciences Center in Valencia - L'Hemisferic (photo: K. Januszkiewicz)

L'Hemisferic is the largest in Spain,

a cinema-planetarium with a screen area
of 900 m2. Emerging from emerald water,
the structure covering the planetarium,
completed with its reflection, appears
like a huge eye of the Cyclops, whose lid
is the openable part of the object.
The roof made of glass and steel reaches
a length of 45 meters and a maximum
width of 27 meters.
12. Props of LUmbracle (photo: K. Januszkiewicz)

Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias in Valencia (1997-2001) is a unique enclave

designed for leisure, where contact with culture plays the main role. The complex
consists of the following objects: the Palau de les Arts, L'Hemisferic, Museu de les
Ciencies Principe Felipe, L'Umbracle and Oceanografic with the shell structures
of Felix Candela. These facilities are spread over an area of 350,000 m2 and form a
kind of a village on the water, where the art, science and nature are predominant -
the three main areas of knowledge available to all. After dark the complex becomes
mysterious. Instead of the rush of forms, charm with soft lighting appears. Then
L'Hemisferic triumphs becoming a huge insect, fire-fly in the middle of the lake, or
an unidentified flying object, which for a moment splashed down on Earth,
traveling through the universe. Calatrava's structure is the second largest completed
facility, where a hydraulic system was used, which hoists a collapsible structure
weighing about 1 ton.
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13. Museu de les Ciencies Princip Felipe II (Photo: K. Januszkiewicz)

Elements of skeletons and bones,

open beaks of birds - these are
metaphors or associations posed
by the structure (Fig.13).

The props, just like tree branches,

join together, marking out a two-
aisled interior spatial layout. The
south nave is organized by
longitudinally situated concrete slabs
of the two levels of exposure, and the
terraces and mezzanines complement
the exhibition space (Fig.14).
14. The interior of the museum (photo: K. Januszkiewicz)

Prince Felipe Science Museum is the most magnificent building of this complex, of
40,000 m2 of the interactive exhibition surface used to show the achievements of
our civilization. It is a structure of steel and glass as well as white reinforced
concrete, unusual in its size and shape. The form is sensitive to the interplay of
light and shadow. The interior on one side is enclosed by the sculpture facade of a
light spatial structure of reinforced concrete, while on the other by a spatial cover
made of glass. Both the roof and the glass wall coupled with it, are supported by
reinforced concrete pillars of the arms-open-like structure resembling the trees.
Long oblong leaves of glass and steel growing out of them at a height of 40 meters,
which are bent and curved at the top, seem to fall freely, closing the object space.
This metaphor is also distinct in the exterior of this conformation (Fig. 13, 14).
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15. Oriente Station in Lisbon (photo: K. Januszkiewicz)

Oriente Station in Lisbon (1993-1998) was created for EXPO'98, which had the
topic the Oceans. Heritage for the Future. Calatrava, observing the flora and fauna
in the search for solutions of the problems of structural mechanics, which would be
consistent with nature, responded to the topic perfectly. Everything here stimulates
the viewer's imagination, guiding towards the forms, which animated, might inhabit
ocean basins. Sometimes they surprise the viewer with the simplicity of a fish
skeleton, with the lightness of a multi-limb dragonfly, the structure of a leaf or a
tree. The interplay of light and shadow, the whiteness of the design and the blue
color of the sky is significant as well. All of these point to the heritage of the
ancient culture of the Atlantic (Fig. 15).

The transfer between natural forms and synthetic constructs is desirable. Indeed,
under pressure to adapt to the changing conditions of life and the typical forces of
nature, living organisms have become highly optimized and efficient, and this is
also expected from the buildings. Calatrava understands that when he treats
engineering as an art of possibilities and is seeking for a new vocabulary of forms,
which, although based on technical knowledge, is not a praise of the engineering
alone. Santiago Calatrava's artworks are the significant engineering heritage of the
twentieth century.

LITERATURE
[1] Jodidio P., Santiago Calatrava, Taschen Verlag, 1998, p.10.
[2] LP Nervi, Aesthetics and Technology in Building, The Charles Eliot Norton Lectures,
1961-1962, Harvard University Press, Cambridge Ma, 1965, p. 27
[3] K. Januszkiewicz, A bird frozen in flight, Archivolta 1/1999, pp. 8-11.
[4] K. Januszkiewicz, Art and Science Center in Valencia, Archivolta 3/2002, pp. 10-41.
[5] K. Januszkiewicz, Atlantic heritage, Archivolta 4/1999, pp. 8-13.