Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts, Valencia, Spain

El Palau de les Arts Reina Sofía (Queen Sofia Palace of the Arts) is an opera house and cultural centre in Valencia, Spain. The theatre opened on 8 October 2005.

It is the last-completed part of a grand 'City of Arts and Sciences'.

Under the huge curved roof structure, 230 metres in length, the building rises 14 stories plus 3 stories below ground. Its height is 75 meters. The 40,000 sq. meter building contains four auditoriums:

The Sala Principal (Main Hall), which seats 1,700 people, functions primarily for opera, but it can be converted for dance and other performing arts. The Hall has 4 tiers of seating, a stage equipped with all major facilities and an orchestra pit capable of housing 120 musicians, the third largest in the world.

Architect : Santiago Calatrava

L’Hemisfèric, Valencia, Spain

L’Hemisfèric, the distinctive eye-shaped construction, was the first element to be opened to the public in the "City of Arts and Sciences", in April 1998.

The building’s unique architecture comes alive as the lids of the colossal “Eye of Knowledge” opens up to reveal the fascinating setting.

The globe of L’Hemisfèric (the Planetarium), which also houses the Omnimax theater, is roofed over by an elliptical shell structure and placed within an elliptical pod that cradles it like the pupil of an eye.

The concrete socket of the eye incorporates elongated aluminium awnings that differ in length and fold upwards collectively, or as individual units, to form a brise-soleil roof that opens along the curved central axis of the eye shape. The concrete encasement has been extended upwards, and the brise-soleil narrowed and replaced by a system of slats mounted on each side of pivoting, to imitate the structure of a feather.

Architect : Santiago Calatrava

El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe, Valencia, Spain

El Museu de les Ciències Príncipe Felipe (the Museum of Sciences) is an important visitor attraction in Valencia in Spain. It forms part of Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències.

The building is over 40,000 square meters in area and resembles the skeleton of a whale. It opened in 2000.

Architect : Santiago Calatrava

L'Oceanogràfic, Valencia, Spain

L'Oceanogràfic is a marine complex situated in the east of the city of Valencia, Spain, where different marine habitats are represented (seas and oceans of approximately 100,000 m²). It is integrated inside a complex know as the Ciutat de les Arts i les Ciències(City of Arts & Sciences).

L'Oceanogràfic is the largest complex of its type in all of Europe and has 45,000 animals of 500 different species including fish, mammals, birds, reptiles and invertebrates, all inhabiting nine underwater towers. Each tower is structured in two levels and represent the major ecosystems of the planet.

Architect : Félix Candela