Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava was granted £24,000 in damages by a court after the architect took a legal battle against Esquerra Unida. The Spanish left-wing party was found to be guilty of launching a website that defamed the renowned architect.
Esquerra Unida was also asked to take down the website called Calatrava te la clava which is a loose translation of “Calatrava bleeds you dry.” The site’s content was full of allegations about the architect’s firm with regards to cost, delays and problems that it caused to Valencia. On it’s launch, the website concentrated on Calatrava’s project with Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias de Valencia (City of Arts and Sciences) complex. According to the left-wing party, the architect billed the local government 100 million Euros. The party claimed that Calatrava was “bleeding Valencia dry” thus the name of the website.
Aside from ordering the site to be taken down due to its “insulting and degrading” motivations, the website’s page was ordered to be replaced with the verdict. The party was also asked to pay the architect £24,270. Ignacio Blanco, a local politician in Valencia and the person behind the site said in an interview with The Guardian that they are planning to appeal. A new website was also launched by the party called Calatrava no nos calla or “Calatrava will not silence us”. It also bears the tag line “ruinous projects and invoices without VAT.”
As of May 21, 2014, an investigation into the construction of the Palau de les Arts Reina Sofia Opera House within the same complex, ended in Calatrava’s favor as well. The project became more controversial after the Catalonian mosaics installed on the facade of the building started chipping off from the high winds of winter. The result of the investigation showed that the negligence was on the subcontractor’s side rather than Calatrava’s. Currently, Calatrava and UTE, the construction company that originally completed the opera in 2005, are working together to rectify the damages.
