It went on to mention a Spanish website devoted to criticizing the architect, helpfully pointing out that its URL loosely translates to the phrase “Calatrava bleeds you dry,” before concluding that “other cities may be reluctant to hire Mr. Calatrava again.”
Given that shift in Calatrava’s professional persona—before the World Trade Center job, after all, he was more often cast in the role of civic savior—I have to admit that I paused and laughed out loud right into the soupy central Florida afternoon when, walking toward the front door of the architect’s latest American project, the Innovation, Science and Technology Building (IST) at the new campus of Florida Polytechnic University near Orlando, I saw a white sign with red letters installed near one of the ponds that Calatrava designed along the building’s southern edge. The sign showed a green animal with snapping jaws inside a circle with a line through it. Below that, in capital letters, were the words DO NOT FEED THE ALLIGATORS.