Walking in front of the Buenavista Shopping Center is quite a spectacle. For those who donât know, the Buenavista space is a huge building designed by the famous architect Santiago Calatrava for the people of Oviedo, which houses inside the cityâs new Congress Palace, a Shopping Center for fashion trends (totally posh) and a future five-star hotel.
But what is really striking about this center is the controversy that it has created among the inhabitants of the old Vetusta, loved by some and hated by many others, there are those who maintain that it breaks with the environment and is âshoehorned inâ while other people wonder about the need to pay an architect for a work that is reminiscent of previous ones (it has movable ribs, the comparison with the City of Sciences of Valencia is inevitable).
And this is where my mental machinery (somewhat rusty this summer) starts up and I begin to investigate a little about the works of famous architects. Could it be true that all their works are surprisingly similar? Does this correspond to your own style or do you modify the first successful building?
Without further ado, I got to work and before you the graphic proofs of several of the works of reputed architects.
Firstly, the already mentioned Spanish Calatrava, whose buildings are characterized by whitish tones and for being equipped with mobility based on artificial ribs moved by motors. Among his achievements are, as I already mentioned, the City of Arts and Sciences of Valencia, the Tenerife Auditorium or the Turning Torso skyscraper in the Swedish city of Malmo**.
As you can see in the images, it is true that all his creations follow the same line but I would not dare say that they also follow the same pattern. The truth is that the aforementioned architect has traveled the world constructing buildings and in many cities we can find the footprint of Calatrava, undoubtedly one of the Spaniards who is best known abroad.
And so as not to err on the side of national pride, I present to you Frank Gehry (donât worry, you already know him) creator of the Guggenheim Museum of Bilbao. If I confess the truth, I did not think I knew of any other works by this architect, except for the Hotel MarquĂ©s de Riscal (a well-known railway winery planted in the middle of the vineyards, a luxury hotel that appeared on all the news) but what was my surprise when I saw that I knew about the Dancing House of Prague (on one of my vacations I went to Central Europe and was amazed by this building).
Gehryâs style differs quite a bit from that of Calatrava, he bases his creations on metallic material that takes advantage of the color of natural oxidation and an endless number of irregular shapes to convey a sensation of volume and majesty. This Canadian by birth and North American by nationality is also one of the most recognized masters in the world, although for the vast majority of Spaniards he is âthe one who built the Bilbao museum with a strange name.â
And once we are in the situation, I ask you a question: are famous architects true geniuses or do they take advantage of their status to disseminate almost copied works?
