Santiago Calatrava is a highly revered ar - chitect, who has received many distinctions as well as awards and honorary doctor- ates. Born in Valencia in 1951, he initially studied architecture at the Escuela Tecnica Superior de Arquitectura in his hometown, followed by constructional engineering at the ETH Zurich. He established his own company in 1981, which today has subsid- iaries in Dubai and New York. His most im - portant current major work is the transpor - tation hub at the Ground Zero in New York with its characteristic 'oculus' hall, which was inaugurated in 2016.