Of Things Calatrava…

I finally got around to watching a documentary I had pvr’d a week or so ago. The Socialist, the Architect and the Twisted Tower documents (lyrically I might add) the design and construction of the Turning Tower in Malmo, Sweden. I am fascinated by the inspiration behind the design by Santiago Calatrava who sought to instill this kinetic human form to a 56 storey condominium office tower. The documentary itself (in a mixture of Spanish, Italian, English and Swedish) is a behind the scenes sort of production, but it captures Calatrava musing about such things as the passing of the seasons and the importance of customer service. The participants deal with attempts to change the design mid-construction to cut costs. The clients muse over the fact that the Architect is so sensitive to any criticism, and yet I was struck by how strangely accommodating he seems over what are huge alterations to the concept. Calatrava is pragmatic, hands-on and remarkably open – good line: ‘the blood will arrive into the sea’. The engineer-architect is an interesting mix. This is a fine production. The project in question is an intriguing one, and on which I have grown in appreciation for (the subtleties of the details) with this documentary. I am more familiar with his bridges and the Milwaukee Art Museum project although I have very often walked through his magnificent atrium in Toronto at BCE Place. Cost overruns led to the firing of Johnny Orback, the general manager part way through the project. Calatrava is frank and blatantly states his belief that Swedes are simply too used to only doing the comfortable thing and not being willing to risk or do visionary things as the GM did. Interesting reflection son Swedish culture.

I browsed around a bit to follow up on the project and came across this wonderful model of the tower itself that you can download in PDF form and assemble for yourself. Have fun! By the by, do check out the official site. Its a fascinating piece of interface design in itself.