ZOOMORPHIC
Calatrava Valls

Name of project
Milwaukee Art Museum
Location
Milwaukee,
Wisconsin		 Country
USA
Dates
1994 - 2001
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Santiago Calatrava's architecture is marked by its conspicuous engineering and expressive use of concrete. In his recent addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum, he uses a series of concrete beams to form a massive cantilevered sun-screen, or brise-soleil. The dramatic structure, which may be read as a bird with wings outspread, or as a whale's tail about to disappear beneath the water, has become a powerful symbol for the museum and its city.
The gallery interiors are equally zoomorphic. This vaulted white arcade resembles the ribcage of some bleached carcass, or the enlarged gills that the basking shark uses to filter its plankton diet.