Campo Volantin Footbridge by Santiago Calatrava, Bilbao Spain
Bridge by Santiago Calatrava Bilbao, Spain photo by Robin Hill (c)
Santiago Calatrava likes to refer to his process of Architectural Design as the ‘poetics of structure’. I find his work compelling with a strong engineering streak that supplies his designs with a tensile strength and a fluidity of structure. Here in Bilbao, his Campo Volantin footbridge which amiably spans the River Nervion, you can see his sense of balanced disequilibrium coming into play both in its overall aspect and when you walk over it, because the flooring is made of glass blocks which adds to one’s sense of disequilibrium whilst at the same time ensuring one’s balance. Its a carefully constructed crossing that predates Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim.
It was raining for some of my visit in Bilbao, something which I welcome when I’m shooting because it provides me with an opportunity to photograph mood and atmospshere, and capture all these colorful umbrellas that suddenly unfolded providing an intriguing human element to the Architecture. Or is the Architecture providing us humans with its own intrigue?
To see more photos from my trip t0 Bilbao click here
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