The Genius of Calatrava

Santiago Calatrava wrote his PhD thesis about folding structures. In his later work, parts of his buildings have featured moving elements, such as the Milwaukee Art Museum's folding wings.

None of these elements have been as useful as the shades at the law library in Zurich.

While Zurich certainly isn't New York, where no work can get done in August, it can get fairly hot and sunny in the summer. If your building does not have air conditioning - new buildings in Zurich have restrictions on the amount of power used for AC per square meter - and has a big glass cupola, things can get uncomfortably hot.



Except if you have shades you can fold out to block the sun, which is exactly what Calatrava installed.

They work pretty well, although I still believe that many students, deep in their hearts, would prefer air conditioning.