Hasta La Ideas

Last year, the city of Calgary took sides in debating a bridge planned to be built there, designed by Santiago Calatrava. Apparently the debate is still raging on and people are just as furious about its expense and continued delays as ever (its opening is now roughly eight months behind schedule), while those in support seem to have less traction the longer it takes to be finished. Now Calatrava himself, who’s no stranger to bridge controversies, with clumsy tourists being attacked by his work in Venice to the threat of total destruction in Dallas all in his recent past, is taking on the fight himself. Or, perhaps better put, saying none of the problems Calgary is having with the bridge’s construction are not his fault and everyone should blame someone else for a change. Though the Calgary Herald reports that the architect has made requests surrounding “artistic concerns” which have caused delays and contractor anger, Calatrava says he was hired as a designer, not the builder, and if the city has a problem with how slow or expensive it’s all going, don’t look at him.

“I have to deal with institutions and they have also their own limitations, programs and probably also their own difficulties,” Calatrava said.

…”In general, the impression my people have given to me is that we are building a jewel,” he said.

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