In his projects, he claims to continue a tradition of Spanish modernist engineering that included Félix Candela, Antonio Gaudí, and Rafael Guastavino, with a very personal style that derives from numerous studies of the human body and the natural world.
Leta 2002 je prejel nagrado Sir Misha Black in bil sprejet v "College of Medallists"Calatrava je opredelil svoj stil kot most med gradbeništvom in arhitekturo.