Calatrava to design Atlanta Symphony's new home

ATLANTA - The Atlanta Symphony Orchestra has selected Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to design its $240 million future home. <br> <br> Calatrava will design Symphony Center -- which will house a two-thousand-seat concert hall and administrative and educational facilities in midtown Atlanta. <br> <br> The 51-year-old Calatrava is known for modernist designs that appear light and aerodynamic. He is responsible for the Lyon Airport rail station in France, the Valencia Opera House in Spain and the Milwaukee Art Museum expansion. <br> <br> The center will sit on a 6.2 acre site, which the orchestra will share with two residential towers. <br> <br> The Atlanta symphony board of directors considered 59 candidates during a ten-month search before choosing Calatrava. The other finalists were Bing Thom of Canada and Schmidt Hammer & Lassen of Denmark. <br> <br> The symphony board hopes to have the design in March 2003 and to open the new center in 2008.