Paul F Burgueño

The beginnings of the case Zubi Zuri, Calatrava Bridge

Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava is known worldwide for its architecture and engineering of high aesthetics and famous for the lawsuits generated millionaires around, the last which has been involved is the author of stars as Zubi Zuri Bridge .

The issue goes back to the '80s, when the Bilbao City Council wanted to give their managed a bridge that linked both sides to avoid the long distances that the citizens of the area had to travel across the river or across the bridge Town Hall or through call center solution.

At that time, decided to offer the citizens of Bilbao more than a simple walkway, a city icon, a symbol of the new Bilbao, a tourist attraction and, in short, a masterpiece of incredible dimensions and also , pedestrian. To this end, the study retained the services of Santiago Calatrava and in 1990 the work began. Seven years later, on May 30, 1997, the bridge was opened to coincide with the almost simultaneous opening of the Guggenheim Museum.

Its completion and opened the bridge, people find that the design is impractical because the bridge connects the field with Uribitarte Volantín but not with the Alameda Mazarredo, which is a higher road that allows access to downtown the city. This is where the problems begin.

The local authorities in 2006 to hire an architect Arata Isozaki to design and build a walkway practice connect one end of bridge with the ride of the Torres Isozaki Atea, thus bridging the gap of 90 steps between the river and the downtown area.

Soon Calatrava appear at the bridge and watch as its construction has been altered significantly, seeing violated his right to moral integrity of the work, in particular, Arata Isozaki was extended several feet main runway, the design This enlargement was diametrically opposed to yours, creating a strange contrast with the work and had to cut one of the original fence that crossed the bridge structure. Given these facts, Calatrava starting in 2007 litigation against the City of Bilbao and Vizcaya property developers Larian 95 Buildings and violation of their moral rights.

On November 16, 2007, the Mercantile Court number one in Bilbao sentencing showing that the Intellectual Property Law is not an absolute right and can be relaxed in cases where it is coupled to the need for road or functionality urban. Judge Edmundo Rodríguez determined in this sentence, in effect, Santiago Calatrava's moral rights had been violated but the public interest should prevail over them. The ruling was celebrated by local authorities, but Calatrava did not want to leave the matter there and appealed to a higher court.

This higher court, the Audiencia Provincial de Vizcaya, has declared: Recognizes the infringement of moral right to integrity of the work of Calatrava, makes no ycondena prevalence in the general interest to the City of Bilbao to pay compensation of 30,000 euros to the architect.

In the next post in this blog I discuss the decision of the AP Bizcaia of absolute relevance to architects, engineers and intellectual property attorneys.