Architect, artist and engineer, Santiago Calatrava was born in 1951 in Valencia (Spain). At the age of eight he attended the School of Arts and Crafts, where he began his formal education in drawing and painting. After finishing high school he enrolled in the Escuela Técnica Superior de Architectura in Valencia, where he graduated in Architecture and followed by postgraduate studies in Civil Engineering at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic of Zurich. After completing his studies he started taking part in competitions, with his first winning proposal in 1983 for the design and construction of the Stadellhofen railway station in Zurich. In 1984 Calatrava designed the Bach de Roda bridge in Barcelona. This was the first of the projects that helped build his international reputation. He has since received countless awards and honors for renowned institutions and organizations, and his personal contribution has been recognized around the world He was named "Global Leader for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum in 1993 and was named one of the 100 Most Influential People by Time Magazine in 2005.