Calatrava-Designed Residential Tower for New York

Sciame has a 28-year history as one of New York's most prestigious construction management and development companies. The firm has completed several high-profile construction projects in downtown Manhattan including the award-winning Seamen's Church Institute, Millennium High School and The Museum of Jewish Heritage. The firm is in pre-construction for the New Museum of Contemporary Art, a new Academic building at Cooper Union, and The Museum of Arts and Design.

Current projects under construction include Sarah Lawrence Heimbold Visual Arts Center, Thurgood Marshall Academy, and the Pierpont Morgan Library. The firm is especially noted for its collaborative work with some of the world's most famous architects. Sciame Development has completed a number of restoration projects in the South Street Seaport Historic District including 247 Water Street, The Captain Rose House and is currently re-vitalizing Historic Front Street utilizing $46 million in Liberty Bond financing.

Calatrava: the 20th Century Rennaissance Artist

Architect, engineer and artist Santiago Calatrava founded the firm of Santiago Calatrava S.A. in 1986. The firm, which currently maintains offices in Zurich, Paris, and Valencia, is known for projects that often entail major urban interventions and landscape development, such as museums, opera houses and concert halls, sports facilities, bridges, transportation projects, municipal service facilities and retail/commercial developments.

Earlier this month (February 2005) Calatrava was awarded the American Institute of Architects 2005 AIA Gold Medal. The highest honor the AIA confers to an individual, the Gold Medal recognises an individual whose significant body of work has had a lasting influence on the theory and practice of architecture.

Calatrava is the 61st AIA Gold Medalist, joining the ranks of such visionaries as Thomas Jefferson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, LeCorbusier, Louis Kahn, I.M. Pei, Cesar Pelli, and 2004 AIA Gold Medal recipient Samuel "Sambo" Mockbee, FAIA. In recognition of his legacy to architecture, Calatrava's name will be chiseled into a granite wall of honor located in the lobby of the AIA headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Among Calatrava's other most notable recent works are: the expansion of the Milwaukee Art Museum (2001), his first building in the U.S.; Sondica Airport, Bilbao (2000); James Joyce Bridge, Dublin (2003); the Auditorio de Tenerife, Santa Cruz, Canary Islands (2003); and Sundial Bridge at Turtle Bay, Redding, Calif. (2004). Nearing completion are the Petach Tikvah Bridge, Tel Aviv; Quarto Ponte sul Grand Canale, Venice; and the Palacio de las Artes, the last building for Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences. Calatrava's firm also is currently designing Atlanta's Symphony Center.

In nominating him for the award, 2004 Committee Chair J. Windom Kimsey, FAIA, and 2001-02 AIA Vice President Edward J. Kodet, FAIA-speaking on behalf of the AIA Committee on Design- wrote, "Santiago Calatrava exemplifies sculptural expression and engineering through architecture. Calatrava's work is like music: well orchestrated. It is architecture that delights and finds new meaning each time it is experienced." The committee also noted, "Santiago Calatrava's work seeks out the essence of architecture. His architecture expands the vision and expresses the energy of the human spirit, captivating the imagination and delighting us in the wonders of what sculptural form and dynamic structure can accomplish. Santiago Calatrava defines the reason for the AIA Gold Medal. His vision elevates the human spirit through the creation of environments in which we live, play, and work."

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