A personal reflection on the nature of the architectural imagination, shown through private sketchbooks, by one of the great architects of our day.



Santiago Calatrava first made a name for himself in the late 1980s with delicately designed structures in Zürich that seem to grow out of the earth. He went on to create a series of highly innovative, iconic bridges across Europe, and in recent years he has drawn attention for such large-scale projects as the City of Arts and Sciences in his birth town, Valencia; the Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro; and the World Transportation Hub at Ground Zero in New York.

Originally trained as an engineer, Calatrava has, at heart, always leaned more towards artistic endeavours than purely structural ones: an entire floor of his residence in Zürich is devoted to creating paintings and sculpture, which he has pursued throughout his career. His influences range from art history and natural philosophy to antiquity, and he manages to combine these in buildings that are structurally highly stylized yet somehow timeless.

While many books have documented Calatrava’s output over the years, this is the first to offer his own thoughts, in his own words, in a reading format. In this heartfelt memoir of an architect of singular conviction, Calatrava’s inspirations, lessons and achievements will touch every reader, whether aspiring architect or lover of art and nature.