He is the genius behind some of the world's most spectacular bridges, museums and airports, but Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava cannot plug a leaking roof, according to a client who is demanding he contribute to the €2m (£1.7m) needed to pay someone else to do the job. A dozen years after Calatrava built the spectacular Ysios winery in the rainy Alava region of northern Spain, the building's dramatic, undulating roof continues to let in the damp.
Now Domecq, the owner of the winery, has said it is fed up with the botched attempts of Calatrava's original builders at fixing the roof and wants money from them so that it can bring in fresh architects and engineers to design a new one.
An expert's report that accompanies a writ lodged at a court in Vitoria claims that the roof, made of wood and aluminium, has never managed to keep the rain out. The firm pledges to maintain the original outline designed by Calatrava – an architect and engineer sometimes compared with fellow Spaniard Antoni Gaudí – but says that the leaks are damaging its image.
The row comes on the top of complaints in Calatrava's home city of Valencia about the slowly wrinkling, ceramic outer skin of the city's emblematic Palau de Les Arts, where tiles have started to shake loose.
Opposition politicians in Valencia claim that the overall budget for his spaceship-like arts and science complex in the city has quadrupled to €1bn – with almost €100m for the architect's firm. They have demanded that Zurich-based Calatrava, who responded that "his honour was wounded", give some of the money back.
"It has not just put Valencia on the map, but is the second-most visited cultural centre in Spain, after the Alhambra," the architect once declared.
He is also on record as saying that his fees for various projects in the city were perfectly reasonable.
Yet another row, this time with Italian authorities, has seen doubts raised about the cost of his bridge over the Grand Canal in Venice – the first bridge to be built there in 75 years. Authorities now demand that he and others involved cover some €4m of spending, while Il Giornale newspaper recently claimed the city had received some 5,000 complaints from those who have used it, including some who also claim it is too slippery.
In northern Bilbao, meanwhile, his Zubizuri bridge over the river Nervión has been dubbed the "wipe-out" bridge, because of the number of people who have slipped and fallen. Authorities there have also reportedly had to spend up to €6,000 a year replacing broken tiles.
The mayor of Bilbao, Iñaki Azkuna, who lost a case against him after authorities altered the original design of his bridge, once declared: "I'm fed up with the dictatorship of Calatrava." In Oviedo a court has ordered that the architect and construction firms involved in building a conference hall there should pay €3m to the insurance firm after part of the structure collapsed during building.
The Oviedo hall's infamous, huge mechanical visor has never worked because of problems with its hydraulics. Calatrava is currently battling the building's owners through the courts after they blamed him and refused to pay his full fees.
But for every Calatrava building that gets into trouble, there are several that survive without creating polemic. They include two bridges in Dublin and Manchester, railway stations in Lisbon, Liege and Lyon and buildings in New York and Milwaukee.
Calatrava did not respond to questions sent to his Zurich office.
Related Stories
| Dec 27, 2011
USGBC’s Center for Green Schools releases Best of Green Schools 2011
Recipient schools and regions from across the nation - from K-12 to higher education - were recognized for a variety of sustainable, cost-cutting measures, including energy conservation, record numbers of LEED certified buildings and collaborative platforms and policies to green U.S. school infrastructure.
| Dec 21, 2011
DOE report details finance options for PV systems in schools
The report examines the two primary types of ownership models used to obtain PV installations for school administrators to use in selecting the best option for deploying solar technologies in their districts.
| Dec 21, 2011
AIA Chicago & AIA Chicago Foundation 2011 Dubin Family Young Architect Award announced
The Dubin Family Young Architect Award is bestowed annually and recognizes excellence in ability and exceptional contributions by a Chicago architect between the ages of 25 and 39.
| Dec 21, 2011
Few silver linings for construction in 2012
On the brighter side, nearly half of respondents (49.7%) said their firms were in at least “good” financial health, and four-fifths (80.2%) said their companies would at least hold steady in revenue in 2012.
| Dec 21, 2011
Hoboken Terminal restoration complete
Restoration of ferry slips, expanded service to benefit commuters.
| Dec 21, 2011
BBI key to Philly high-rise renovation
The 200,000 sf building was recently outfitted with a new HVAC system and a state-of-the-art window retrofitting system.
| Dec 20, 2011
Gluckman Mayner Architects releases design for Syracuse law building
The design reflects an organizational clarity and professional sophistication that anticipates the user experience of students, faculty, and visitors alike.
| Dec 20, 2011
Research identifies most expensive U.S. commercial real estate markets
New York City, Washington, D.C. and San Mateo, Calif., rank highest in rents.
| Dec 20, 2011
Third annual Gingerbread Build-off winners announced
Nine awards were handed out acknowledging the most unique and creative gingerbread structures completed.
| Dec 20, 2011
BCA’s Best Practices in New Construction available online
This publicly available document is applicable to most building types and distills the long list of guidelines, and longer list of tasks, into easy-to-navigate activities that represent the ideal commissioning process.