File:24. Palacio de Exposiciones y Congresos Ciudad de Oviedo (36143894075).jpg|Palace of Congresses in
Oviedo, Spain (2000–2011) File:The Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge.jpg|
Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in Dallas, Texas (2012) File:The Peace Bridge in Calgary an HDR photo.jpg|
Peace Bridge in Calgary, Canada (2012) File:Florida Polytechnic University (25811685378).jpg|The Innovation, Science, and Technology (IST) Building of the
Florida Polytechnic University (2014) File:Florida_Polytechnic_University_-_Inside.jpg|Interior of the Innovation, Science and Technology (IST) building at
Florida Polytechnic University (2014) File:Museudoamanha abr.jpg|
Museum of Tomorrow, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2015) File:Museu do Amanhã em sua inauguração 01.jpg|
Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2015) File:The Oculus - NYC (51521542401).jpg|The
World Trade Center Transportation Hub in New York City (2016) File:Dey Street Concourse (27374600280).jpg|Interior of the Oculus of the
World Trade Center Transportation Hub (2016)
Oviedo Conference Center (2000–2011) The conference center and exposition hall in the Spanish city of
Oviedo combines two office buildings and a hotel, covered with horizontal bands of glass and steel and perched upon curving concrete pylons, with elliptical conference center, which includes a main theater, exposition hall and seminar rooms. The Center include another signature feature of Calatrava's work; a sunscreen that was supposed to be able to fold and unfold, but was never functional. The ceiling of the concert hall is an ascending series of arcs, which echo the curving rows of seats.
Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge (2007–2012) and Peace Bridge (2008–2012) Calatrava constructed a series of extraordinary bridges, the type of structure which originally brought him global attention, for cities around the world that wanted a symbol of modernity and daring. Among the largest and dramatic are three bridges over the
Trinity River in
Dallas, Texas. The first of these was the
Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, opened for traffic in March 2012. The bridge, carrying six lanes of traffic, is long, with the appearance of being suspended from an arc-shaped tubular steel pylon forty stories or high by fifty-eight cables, ranging in length from . In form, the bridge resembles one of three bridges constructed in 2005–2005 on the
Autostrada A1 in
Reggio Emilia, Italy. Work on the second bridge, the
Margaret McDermott Bridge, began in 2011. The
Peace Bridge in Calgary, Canada, built between 2008 and 2012, is a completely different bridge in purpose, scale and design. Built across the
Bow River, and designed for pedestrians and cyclists, it is a glass and steel-wrapped tube long. It appears extraordinary long for a bridge with no towers or pylons to hold it up. Calatrava described the form in his own particular engineering vocabulary as "defined by a helicoidal movement, with an ovoid cross section, with two clearly materialized tangential lanes expressing an internal architectural volume."
Florida Polytechnic University (2009–2014) The project for the new
Florida Polytechnic University in
Lakeland, Florida (2009–2014) gave Calatrava the opportunity to design an entire campus in a unified style. The site covers of land which once contained phosphorus mines, many of which have been filled with water creating small lakes.Calatrava's plan combined several small lakes into a central lake, which serves as a setting for the central structure, the
Innovation, Science, and Technology (IST) building. The eye-shaped central building has an area of 200,000 square feet on two floors, and contains all the classrooms, faculty offices laboratories and public spaces until the other buildings are completed. The building has several signature Calatrava features, including an extendable sun scene on the roof, which entirely changes the appearance of the building when deployed, and whose form changes gradually as the sun moves. The terraces of the building are covered by a curving pergola, or screen, of steel, which reduces the direct sunlight by thirty percent. Inside, the corridors and central courtyard are lit by the central skylight. Plans for the building call for the installation of of solar panels on the sunscreen to provide energy for the building. The library of the university is also distinctive; it does not have a single book; all the collection is digitized. The structure has been called by some journalists a response to the criticism of the high price and technical flaws of some of Calatrava's earlier buildings. The review in
Architecture magazine, the journal of the American Institute of Architects, reported: "The building is full of handsome and even some very impressive spaces, but none of the singularly breathtaking ones that have made Calatrava, despite his price tag, so attractive to clients looking for marketing splash to go with their museum wing or train station. It reflects serious attention to detail and the bottom line; this is the work of an architect actively trying to prove, or at least re-emphasize, his bona fides."
Museum of Tomorrow, Rio de Janeiro (2010–2015) The
Museum of Tomorrow in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which opened in December 2015, is part of the redevelopment of the waterfront of Rio de Janeiro, and opened in time for the
2016 Summer Olympics in that city. The building is sited on a plaza next to the harbor, and surrounded by reflecting pools. The building is
cantilevered over the plaza, and toward the sea. and gives the impression that it is floating on the water. Calatrava wrote, "The idea is that the building feels ethereal, almost floating on the sea, like a ship, a bird or a plant." The roof is equipped with moveable screens that adjust to the movements of the sun. The interior design is what Calatrava calls "archetypal" and simplified, to allow for exhibits in a greater variety of forms and sizes. The museum also includes a number of ecological features; water from the sea is used to regulate the temperature inside the building, and to refill the surrounding reflecting pools.
The Guardian described it as "an other-worldly edifice that looks like a cross between a solar-powered dinosaur and a giant air conditioning unit", and declared "it must already rank as one of the world's most extraordinary buildings."
WTC Hub, New York City (2003–2016) Calatrava designed the
WTC Transportation Hub in New York City at the rebuilt
World Trade Center at the site of the
September 11 attacks in 2001. The new station connects the regional trains of the new
PATH with the subway and other local transportation, and also has a large retail mall, replacing commercial space destroyed in the attack. The above-ground "oculus" of the station, made of glass and steel, is oval-shaped, and is long and high. According to Calatrava, it resembles "a bird flying from the hands of a child". The "Wings" of the above-ground structure were originally designed to move upward to a maximum height of to form a double screen high, but this feature had to be dropped to meet new security standards. The main hall of the station is underground, and the tracks of the PATH system on another level below. The underground station was originally designed so that its roof would open entirely in good weather, but this feature also had to be dropped due to its cost and space limitations. The WTC Hub has been controversial because of its cost (4 billion dollars, twice the original estimate, and the most expensive railway station ever built) and its delays (seven years on 3 March 2016, seven years behind schedule). More than $1 billion of its cost went to administrative expenses and the decision to build around the
1 train of the
New York City Subway. Michael Kimmelman, the architecture critic of the
New York Times, praised the soaring upward view inside the Oculus, but condemned the building's cost, "scale, monotony of materials and color, preening formalism and disregard for the gritty urban fabric." ==Controversy and criticism==