Famed Art Museum Architect Returns For 20th Anniversary

Spanish architect and engineer Santiago Calatrava returned to Milwaukee Wednesday to revisit his first U.S. building.

Calatrava, 71, is the famed architect behind the the 2001 expansion of the Milwaukee Art Museum known as the Quadracci Pavilion. The building he designed is better known locally as simply “the Calatrava.”

The white, lakefront building, with movable wings like a bird, has become a symbol of the city. It is used as VISIT Milwaukee‘s logo and is commonly featured in the center of skyline images of the city. A campaign has received more than 10,000 votes to make a LEGO kit of the structure, and it was used as a filming location for Transformers 3.

“Entering the museum, it was for me like the opening day,” said Calatrava at a ceremony to mark the building’s 20th anniversary. “It’s so well preserved.” He told the audience gathered in the building’s auditorium that he remembers working on every curve, every small detail. And there are a number, the architect’s designs make heavy use of rounded metal and concrete.

The $142 million, 142,050-square-foot building officially opened in October 2001, making the museum’s celebration just a few weeks shy of a year out-of-date. But you couldn’t tell from the joy shared by the other dignitaries in attendance.

“What we have in the Quadracci Pavilion is beyond words,” said County Executive David Crowley. “I think today we can all agree it is ingrained in Milwaukee’s DNA.”

“You actually jump started Milwaukee’s renaissance,” said Mayor Cavalier Johnson. “It’s fitting that there are wings on this building because it gave lift to this city.”

“All who walk into the Quadracci Pavilion feel a sense of pride, a sense of awe, a sense of inspiration and aspiration,” said MAM director Marcelle Polednik. “The most important thing for me to hear this morning from Mr. Calatrava is we have preserved and conserved this building.”

All of the speakers noted that the structure, 700 N. Art Museum Dr., is the largest piece of art in the city.

To commemorate the anniversary, museum admission will be free on Friday, Sept. 16. Johnson also proclaimed the day “Santiago Calatrava Day” throughout all of Milwaukee, which Calatrava said was a first and “very moving.” Calatrava gave the mayor a gift of his book, with an inscription that included a fairly detailed drawing of a woman releasing a bird.

The museum will be open Friday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

In his brief remarks, Calatrava praised architect David Kahler who designed the first expansion of the Milwaukee Art Museum at the War Memorial Center (1974) and served as the architect of record on Calatrava’s expansion (a role Calatrava called “co-architect”). Calatrava also thanked the board of trustees.

He praised the improvements to connect the city to the lake.

“I mean, after 20 years, it’s nice to see that more things are happening,” said the architect while walking to what MAM officials said was a full schedule for the day. Since the building opened, Pier Wisconsin, home of Discovery World, has opened to the south with a primarily-white design clearly influenced by the museum. The attached War Memorial structure was expanded. And to the west, a number of new high rises have been constructed including 833 East and Northwestern Mutual Tower. The white, 44-story The Couture, which will be just southwest of the museum, will soon join them.

The museum helped transform Calatrava from a well-known architect of bridges and train stations into a ‘starchitect’ or one of a handful of the best-known architects in the world. It was his first commission in the United States, with planning beginning in 1994 and construction in 1997.

Calatrava moved to the U.S. as part of the project and now has dual residences in New York City and Switzerland. He praised the welcoming and resilient American spirit, which he said was evident in what is likely his best-known American building: the Oculus transportation hub at Ground Zero in New York City.

The New York City structure, like many other Calatrava commissions, has had problems with cost overruns and maintenance. The structure doubled in cost to $4 billion. However, as Bruce Murphy previously reported, Milwaukee received a relative bargain for Calatrava’s services, with the museum elevating both Milwaukee and the architect.

The Quadracci Pavilion includes a grand reception hall, auditorium, exhibition space, store, cafe (formerly known as Cafe Calatrava) and an underground parking structure. The movable wings, with a 217-foot wingspan, are known as the Burke Brise Soleil.

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