Star Architect Santiago Calatrava Is Fined $86,000 for Building a Bridge in Venice That Can’t Actually Support All Those Tourists

The Spanish architect Santiago
Calatrava, who is no stranger to lawsuits arising from his
ambitious designs, has been ordered to pay a €78,000 ($86,000) fine
to the city of Venice for “macroscopic negligence” in constructing
a bridge over its famous Grand Canal. 

Italian authorities have ordered the 68-year-old architect to
pay the fine because his high-maintenance, glass-and-steel
bridge near Venice’s train station is unable to withstand the wear
and tear of the thousands of tourists using it every day.

Rome’s court of auditors said
that the architect failed to account for the number of tourists,
many dragging wheeled luggage, who would be crossing the Ponte
della Costituzione. This is negligent, the court said, because it
is something “everyone understands” about the floating city,
according to the New York
Times.

The court responsible for the
use of public funds issued the ruling against the architect on
August 6. It found that Calatrava should have foreseen the problems
that arose with his futuristic bridge, given the number of tourists
arriving in the city every day. 

Calatrava completed the
prestigious commission in 2008. Originally forecast to cost €7
million ($7.7 million), the bridge’s budget ultimately rose to
€11.6 million ($12.8 million). Eight of the glass panels on its
steps, which were only meant to be replaced every 20 years, have
already needed to be restored at a cost of €36,000 ($40,000). The
steps also become slippery when it rains, causing people to
fall, which also raises the risk to the glass panels (not to
mention those crossing the bridge).

Venice originally sued Calatrava
for negligence over the bridge in 2014, but he prevailed in a lower
court, arguing that the bridge had deteriorated early because the
dragging of wheeled suitcases across it constituted “incorrect use”
of the structure. The case went to the higher court in Rome after
the city appealed this ruling. It won based on the bridge’s
location near Venice’s train station, making the impact caused by
wheeled suitcases “inevitable.”

Calatrava’s studio did not
immediately respond to a request for comment. The
architect-engineer has built bridges in cities from Dallas to
Bilbao. Several of his other projects have had highly publicized
problems, including the leaky Oculus, part of his transport
hub at the World Trade Center in New York. In 2014, Valencia
sued Calatrava for the crumbling roof of the Opera House at the
Palau de les Arts exhibition complex in the Spanish
city.

Venice spends around €41 million
($45 million) each year to keep the city clean, remove waste, and
maintain its banks, bridges, and cultural heritage, according to a
statement from the city council. The municipality of Venice recently announced
that it would be introducing an additional tax at the end of the
year, aimed at day-trippers who come to the city on cruise ships
but avoid the existing tourist tax because they do not stay
overnight on shore.

The post Star Architect Santiago Calatrava Is Fined $86,000
for Building a Bridge in Venice That Can’t Actually Support All
Those Tourists appeared first on artnet News.