Santiago Calatrava

Soon We'll Know Exactly What Calatrava's Second Trinity River Bridge Will Look Like

With all the hullabaloo surrounding the completion of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, not to mention what must have been a righteous party, it was easy to forget that world-renowned architect Santiago Calatrava was supposed to design two more of his signature (e.g. big, white, and arch-y) bridges acr ... More >>

The Calatrava Isn't a Bridge; It's a Bridgehead for Developers

I am terribly embarrassed by the short film I offered here yesterday about driving over the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge for the first time. The comments on my cinematography, direction, editing and narration have been scathing, scathing! Shockingly caustic. I just feel utterly scathed. I get the mess ... More >>

Turning the Trinity into Something Magical Doesn't Require a Bridge, It Needs You

A Sign of the Times on the Margaret Hunt Hill and Other Snapshots From Saturday

​Our pros have been all over the Margaret Hunt Hill this weekend, with one, Jay Barker, sending word from the sun-up service this morning that Santiago Calatrava "hinted that this three-day celebration was a bit excessive." Ya don't say. You can see Danny and Paul and Jay's their fine work at ... More >>

Ah, So This Was All Mary Suhm's Idea: Patting Backs, Drinking Drinks on Margaret Hunt Hill

​The speeches went on and on and on and on ... and on, everyone on the stage thanking everyone else on the stage for having a hand in building this thing we were all standing on: the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Mayor Mike Rawlings, Friday night's emcee, introduced "our new skyline" and the structu ... More >>

Friday Flashback: When They Broke Ground on the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in December '05

​Strange timing that one of my last tasks for the Observer will be covering the opening (but not really opening) of the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge. Shame I can't get Schutze to be my date this weekend, so instead I'll just have to schlep along my son, who wants to get a few last photos on Unfair Pa ... More >>

Just Pretend the Calatrava Bridge Really Is Opening, Sit Back and Listen to Lyle.

At the Lighting of the Calatrava Bridge, That "Elegant Sculpture" and "Connection in Time"

​In the end, the timing was perfect: The rain, scarce for far too long, had moved off but not before topping off the Trinity River just enough so that it resembled an actual river -- roaring, even, almost mighty. The clouds remained, and the glare from an ever-illuminated downtown gave the sky a s ... More >>

Standing on the Margaret Hunt Hill, Before Getting a Look at What Runs Below

​Speaking of the Trinity River ... Perhaps I didn't end up visiting the under-construction Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge on the best day for our ongoing Unfair Park series, "Sweaty Dispatches From a Sweltering City." While I was out on the pavement girded with Italian steel early Thursday afterno ... More >>

Dallas's E.D. Problem: Nothing Several Tons of Steel Won't Fix

Sorry, Belo, But I Can't Sign Off On Your Stance That Dallas Needs Another "Signature" Bridge

​OK, wait, wait, wait. Sorry. I don't get it. I need a little catch-up here. The second Calatrava fake suspension "signature bridge" across the Trinity is going to be a bicycle bridge? A bicycle bridge? We're going to spend more than $100 million in tax money to build a make-believe suspension bri ... More >>

Breathalyzer Tests for City Council, an Idea Whose Time Has Come.

Hunt Asks: What Makes a "World-Class City"?

​As Sam notes below, Angela Hunt was the lone council member to vote against paying architect Santiago Calatrava $10.7 million to design a second version of the Margaret McDermott Bridge. The District 14 council rep believes spending all those many millions on a "signature" component added to a ... More >>

Breathalyzers for the City Council, Now There's an Idea Worth $10 Million

​I have a new idea for controlling costs at City Hall. Breathalyzers for the city council, because those people must be drunk. The city is in the toilet, so broke it can't mow the parks. So broke it can't fix the streets. So broke it can't keep the rec centers open. On and on. So tomorrow th ... More >>

Committee Approves Margaret McDermott Bridge Redesign That Pays Calatrava Eight Million Bucks But Costs the City Nada

Photo by Sam MertenCity Manager Mary Suhm answers questions at today's TRCP Committee meeting.​At the behest of City Manager Mary Suhm, the city council's Trinity River Corridor Project Committee this morning unanimously approved a revised $8 million contract with architect Santiago Calatrava ... More >>

City Proposes Redesign of Second Calatrava Bridge to Green-Light Construction in Mid-2012 and Add Pedestrian and Bicycle Components

Photo by Sam MertenWe're not sure what the new plan is for the new IH-30 bridge, but if this model's any indication, perhaps they've axed one of the approaches?​Following Thursday afternoon's presser celebrating the anticipated approval of a plan to restore the Trinity River levee system's 100 ... More >>

Only Leppert Could Go to Valencia, or: Now, See, That's an Impressive Calatrava Project

Courtesy Chris Heinbaugh, who's at far rightNo idea what Jack E. Jett means when he says Leppert's the "most photographed Mayor in the history of the WORLD!"​Right now, you're probably wondering to yourself: Hey, how's Mayor Tom enjoying his European vacationtrade mission to Spain and France? Well ... More >>

SMU to Show Off Its Giant Head Tonight

​We first took a long, hard look at Jaume Plensa's Sho, otherwise known as the 13-foot-tall head that weighs 600 pounds, back in August, when SMU's Meadows Museum announced its acquisition. But the sculpture rears its lovely head tonight with the official unveiling as the Meadows reopens the redes ... More >>

Does This Bus Go to the Calatrava Bridge?

​A month ago today we told you about The Trinity Trust's "Suspense is Building" campaign, which is intended to get the locals hot and bothered for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge in advance of Santiago Calatrava's $150-a-ticket victory toddle on September 25. I finally saw one of the billboards this ... More >>

The Holy Trinity Bridge

From The Trinity Trust's brand-new Web site devoted to selling Dallas on the Calatrava Bridge​As promised, The Trinity Trust today debuted its new campaign to build interest in the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge, and there's an accompanying Web site: Discover the Trinity. You'll also find a second, jaz ... More >>

Steel Yourself: Next Month, An All-Star Party to Celebrate "Bridging the Trinity"

Sam MertenTurns out, we'd like to take back everything we ever said about that Trinity River Corridor Project model. It was accurate after all.​The steel for the Margaret Hunt Hill Bridge's been down by the Trinity River for, oh, a few days at least -- I breathlessly ogled the two cylinders, each ... More >>

Après Le Deluge, a Trinity Tour

Jim SchutzeThe Margaret Hunt Hill bridge and what remains of the West LeveeI paid a visit today to the Margaret Hunt Hill suspension bridge construction site on the Trinity River because a frequent correspondent had expressed concern about the effects of recent heavy rains. His worry was about the ... More >>

Report on Trinity Levees Shows A Failure of Dallas' Leadership

The latest word from the Army Corps of Engineers is sure to result in one thing: a run on rubber rafts at Costco

Toll You So

The Trinity River Project should be floating right along. Instead it's sinking under the weight of its own folly.

The Trinity River Project's Completed! At Least, the 20-Foot Model's Done.

The Early Reviews Are In: Calatrava Bridge is "Dazzling"!

More Calatraversity

Calatraversial

Jim, Ed Oakley Says You Suck

Laura Miller Speaks

Jim, The Mayor Would Like To Speak With You...

Pipe Dream?

Eye Candy

It's overpriced, it's gaudy and we have to put it on a credit card. Yep, that Calatrava bridge says Dallas all over.

Calatrava Got No Cred?

Bridge Bidding (Or, Why Not Just Play Go Fish?)

Gapping the Bridge

First Things Last

Calatrava is Spanish for "Over Budget"

Bridges to Nowhere

Re: Fantasyland

"Exuberantly shallow"

Suspension bridge of disbelief

Play Things

Stepford Mayor

Laura Miller's husband orders a shift for City Hall

Letters

Spanish Fly

Dallas turns rape to romance with Calatrava bridges

Look Back in Annoyance

A year of capital-city pretensions and "Untitled Turkeys"

Letters

Bombs Away; Our Rotund Reporter; A Bridge Too Far-out

Bilbao Envy

Meadows' show of Santiago Calatrava's designs is one big missed opportunity

Jack! Jack!

You didn't trade the family cow for a Calatrava bridge, did you?

Buzz

Spanish flyways; Friends in low places; So long, friend