Dear ArchitectureWeek,

Imagine my surprise one evening when, riding along the Pasada de Alameda in Spain, I saw in the distance several buildings that seemed to be almost floating in the dusk. They had to have been designed by Santiago Calatrava! Our guide confirmed this, and the next morning before dawn I hopped into a taxi and headed back to photograph them.

These three buildings, the Hemisphere (1998), the Museum of Science (2000), and the Palace of the Arts (in progress) are part of a major project to turn the now-dry riverbed into parks and other recreational and cultural attractions.

I had seen two Calatrava bridges (in Bilbao and Valencia) and was struck by the sensation that these wing-like structures could at any moment fly up into the sky. These three buildings give me much the same impression, that they were lighter than air and not quite of this world.

On the road in Valencia,

Kitty Meredith