Unsung Brave New World
I’ve just come back from Spain ending with a few days in Valencia. I knew nothing about the place. Nada. But was amazed that I’d never heard of the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciencies in Valencia by architect Santiago Calatrava (I used to generally consider myself pretty good at matters in important contemporary design…evidently not). Absolutely stunning. What made it even more stunning was travelling into this slightly Syd-Mead/Blade Runner-esque world from the old cobbled back streets of Valencia by Segway. So appropriate, and so much fun! In all seriousness though, I am generally quite conservative and pragmatic in all things design (think Dieter Rams, Braun, Apple…yawn) and struggle usually with big, expressive statements in Architecture (I think because of the Zaha Hadid pr-machine). But, when you experience such wonderful worlds as this one, you can’t help but be bowled over, and impressed that big cities have the nerve to put their reputations in the hands of retro-futuro-visionaries such as Calatrava. If this is the future then I think I kind of like it. Thanks Pau from Valencia Segways for letting us fly round at break-neck speed. Segways, now there’s a whole other thing…
