Félix Candela Outeriño (; January 27, 1910 – December 7, 1997) was a Spanish and Mexican

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

who was born in Madrid and at the age of 26, emigrated to Mexico, acquiring double nationality. He is known for his significant role in the development of Mexican architecture and

structural engineering Structural engineering is a sub-discipline of civil engineering in which structural engineers are trained to design the 'bones and joints' that create the form and shape of human-made Structure#Load-bearing, structures. Structural engineers also ...

. Candela's major contribution to architecture was the development of thin shells made out of

reinforced concrete Reinforced concrete, also called ferroconcrete or ferro-concrete, is a composite material in which concrete's relatively low tensile strength and ductility are compensated for by the inclusion of reinforcement having higher tensile strength or ...

, popularly known as ''cascarones''. He was

Santiago Calatrava Santiago Calatrava Valls (born 28 July 1951) is a Spaniards, Spanish-Swiss people, Swiss architect, structural engineer, sculptor and painter, particularly known for his bridges supported by single leaning pylons, and his railway stations, stad ...

's icon who has had a great influence on his works. At the end of his career he worked with the architect Fernando Higueras, designing inverted umbrellas with 12-meter cantilevers, and with the young and innovative .

Early life

Felix Candela was born in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, Spain in 1910. In 1927 Candela enrolled in La Escuela Superior de Arquitectura (Madrid Superior Technical School of Architecture), graduating in 1935; at which time Candela traveled to Germany to further study architecture. Early after he started classes, he developed a very keen sense of geometry and started teaching other students in private lessons. In his junior year, his visual intelligence and his descriptive geometric and trigonometric talent helped him catch the eye of Luis Vegas. Vegas was his material strength professor, and gave Candela the honorary title of "Luis Vegas’ Helper". While "helping" Vegas, Candela entered many architecture competitions and won most of them. Unlike many of his peers, Candela did not show intellectual or aesthetic efforts in school. He did not even like pure mathematics. When Candela was a student in Madrid, the schools taught the

theory of elasticity Solid mechanics (also known as mechanics of solids) is the branch of continuum mechanics that studies the behavior of solid materials, especially their motion and deformation under the action of forces, temperature changes, phase changes, and ...

where Candela assisted the professors and even tutored other students. His studies ended very quickly when the Spanish civil war began in 1936. When Candela returned to Spain to fight, he sided with the republic and fought against Franco. Candela became a Captain of Engineers for the Spanish republic after a short period of time. Unfortunately, while participating in the civil war, Candela was imprisoned in the Perpignan Concentration camp in Perpignan, France until the end of the war in 1939. Candela had fought against Franco; therefore he could not stay in the new Spain as long as Franco was the head of state. After his name was selected with a few hundred other prisoners, Candela was put onto a ship bound for Mexico, where he would start his career. He landed in

Acapulco Acapulco de Juárez (), commonly called Acapulco ( , ; ), is a city and Port of Acapulco, major seaport in the Political divisions of Mexico, state of Guerrero on the Pacific Coast of Mexico, south of Mexico City. Located on a deep, semicirc ...

later that year. As an expert of

paraboloid In geometry, a paraboloid is a quadric surface that has exactly one axial symmetry, axis of symmetry and no central symmetry, center of symmetry. The term "paraboloid" is derived from parabola, which refers to a conic section that has a similar p ...

and

hyperbolic geometry In mathematics, hyperbolic geometry (also called Lobachevskian geometry or János Bolyai, Bolyai–Nikolai Lobachevsky, Lobachevskian geometry) is a non-Euclidean geometry. The parallel postulate of Euclidean geometry is replaced with: :For a ...

, he was drawn to experiment on a series of residential and commercial shell-shaped structures since the beginning of his career. Candela evaluated both the artistic and the cost-saving aspects of this kind of design choice. Candela married Eladia Martin when he moved to Mexico from Spain; there, they raised a family. In his early life, Felix was active in sports, particularly rugby and

skiing Skiing is the use of skis to glide on snow for basic transport, a recreational activity, or a competitive winter sport. Many types of competitive skiing events are recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the International S ...

Thin-shell structures

Candela worked very hard during his lifetime to prove the real nature and potential reinforced concrete had in structural engineering. Reinforced concrete is extremely efficient in a

dome A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...

or shell like shape. This shape eliminates tensile

force In physics, a force is an influence that can cause an Physical object, object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. In mechanics, force makes ideas like 'pushing' or 'pulling' mathematically precise. Because the Magnitu ...

s in the concrete. He also looked to solve problems by the simplest means possible. In regard to shell design, he tended to rely on the geometric properties of the shell for analysis, instead of complex mathematical means and he followed the works of

Eduardo Torroja Eduardo Torroja y Miret, 1st Marques of Torroja (27 August 1899 – 15 June 1961) was a Spanish structural engineer and a pioneer in the design of concrete shell structures. Education Torroja was born in Madrid where he studied civil engineerin ...

in Europe and Guillermo Gonzalez Zuleta in America. Around 1950 when Candela's company went to design laminar structures, he started researching journals and engineering articles for as much information as he could find. From this, he started questioning the behaviour of reinforced concrete with the elastic assumptions and concluded they are in total disagreement with each other. Candela has said on more than one occasion that the analysis of a structure is a sort of "hobby" to him.

Mexico: 1939-1968

Félix Candela worked as an architect upon his arrival in Mexico until 1949 when he started to engineer many concrete structures utilizing his well-known thin-shell design. Candela did most of his work in Mexico throughout the 1950s and into the late 60s. He was responsible for more than 300 works and 900 projects in this time period. Many of his larger projects were given to him by the Mexican government, such as the Cosmic Rays Pavilion. In 1956, Mexican President

Adolfo Ruiz Cortines Adolfo Tomás Ruiz Cortines ( 30 December 1889 – 3 December 1973) was a Mexican politician who served as President of Mexico from 1952 to 1958. A member of the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), he previously served as Governor of Vera ...

said "Nothing could be more serious than to sit in the shade of the buildings we are about to build," foreshadowing the many construction projects to come. Ruiz Cortines came up with a budget to enable his construction declaration to come true, requesting ₱81,200,000 (pesos) more funding than was used in 1955. Luckily for Candela, ₱20,300,000 (pesos) of this funding was to go towards public works. Candela also benefited from the budget implemented by Ruiz Cortines in the area of education. Candela became a professor in Mexico, which is what he did for the remainder of his career. Felix moved to the United States and taught at University of Illinois at Chicago from 1971 to 1978.

University of Illinois at Chicago Circle: 1971-1978

Candela was hired as a Professor of Architecture at the university's Chicago Circle campus (now

University of Illinois at Chicago The University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) is a public research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its campus is in the Near West Side community area, adjacent to the Chicago Loop. The second campus established under the Universi ...

) on September 1, 1971, a position he held until 1978.

Works

Source
Fausto Giovannardi, ed.: ''Felix Candela, Builder of Dreams''
re
Fausto Giovannardi, ed.: ''Felix Candela, Builder of Dreams''
/ref> *1951, Pabellón de Rayos Cósmicos ("Pavilion of Cosmic Rays"),

National Autonomous University of Mexico The National Autonomous University of Mexico (, UNAM) is a public university, public research university in Mexico. It has several campuses in Mexico City, and many others in various locations across Mexico, as well as a presence in nine countri ...

, with Jorge González Reyna *1952, Almacenes de las Aduanas (customs warehouses), Pantaco,

Azcapotzalco Azcapotzalco ( ; ; from ''wikt:azcapotzalli, āzcapōtzalli'' “anthill” + ''wikt:-co, -co'' “place”; literally, “In the place of the anthills”) is a Boroughs of Mexico City, borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. Azcap ...

, Mexico City, with Carlos Recamier *1953-1957 Iglesia de la Medalla de la Virgen Milagrosa, Colonia Narvarte, Mexico City *1954-1955 Fábrica Celestino Fernández, Colonia Vallejo, Mexico City *1955, covering for

Mexican Stock Exchange The Mexican Stock Exchange (), commonly known as Mexican Bolsa, Mexbol, or BMV, is one of two stock exchanges in Mexico, the other being BIVA - Bolsa Institucional de Valores. It is the second largest stock exchange in Latin America, only after S ...

, Mexico City, with Enrique de La Mora Lopez and Fernando Carmona *1955-1956 Quiosco de Música, Santa Fe. *Churches in Mexico City: 1955 El Atillo church,

Coyoacán Coyoacán ( ; , Otomi: ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre- ...

; 1955 San Antonio de las Huertas,

Tacuba Tacuba is a district in the Ahuachapán department of El Salvador. Church Of Tacuba It is located in Villa of Tacuba. It is head of the municipality of the same name in the department of Ahuachapán, at about 14 Kilometers of the city of Ahuac ...

; 1959 San Vicente de Paul, 1963 Santa Monica Lopez of Carmona; all with Enrique de La Mora y Palomar and Fernando Lopez Carmona *1955-56: Municipal markets in

and Anáhuac, Mexico City with Pedro Ramirez Vàzquez and Rafael Mijares *1956-1957 Nightclub La Jacaranda, Acapulco *1956: Hotel Casino de la Selva,

Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; , "near the woods" , Otomi language, Otomi: ) is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state, state of Morelos in Mexico. Along with Chalcatzingo, it is likely one of the origins of the Mesoamerica, Mesoamerican civilizatio ...

, Mexico (demolished 2001) *1958, Los Manatiales restaurant,

Xochimilco Xochimilco (; ) is a borough () of Mexico City. The borough is centered on the formerly independent city of Xochimilco, which was established on what was the southern shore of Lake Xochimilco in the precolonial period. Today, the borough cons ...

, Mexico City, with Joaquín Álvarez Ordonez *1958, Chapel Lomas de Cuernavaca,

, Mexico *1959-1960, Planta embotelladora Bacardi,

Cuautitlán Cuautitlán (, Otomi: ), is a municipality in the State of Mexico, just north of the northern tip of the Federal District (Distrito Federal) within the Greater Mexico City urban area. The city of Cuautitlán is the municipal seat and makes up ...

, near Mexico City *1959, Capilla de Abierta Palmira in Cuernavaca with Rosell and Manuel Guillermo Larrosa *1959, San José Obrero church

Monterrey Monterrey (, , abbreviated as MtY) is the capital and largest city of the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León. It is the ninth-largest city and the second largest metropolitan area, after Greater Mexico City. Located at the foothills of th ...

, with Enrique de La Mora y Palomar and Fernando Lopez Carmona *1962, Aula Magna at The Anglo Mexican Foundation, with Enrique de La Mora

Colonia San Rafael Colonia San Rafael is a colonia (Mexico), colonia of the Cuauhtémoc, D.F., Cuauhtémoc borough of Mexico City, just west of the historic center of Mexico City, historic city center. It was established in the late 19th century as one of the first f ...

*1962-3, Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Madrid, with Enrique de La Mora y Palomar and Fernando Lopez Carmona *1963, John Lewis Warehouse (JLW) at Stevenage, UK *1966, Parroquia del Señor del Campo Florido, Mexico City *1968,

Palacio de los Deportes Palacio de los Deportes () is an indoor arena located in Mexico City, Mexico. It is within the Magdalena Mixhuca Sports City complex, near the Mexico City International Airport and in front of the Estadio GNP Seguros, in which sports and arti ...

, Mexico City, built for the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

, with A. Peyri and E. Castañeda Tamborell *1969,

Mexico City metro The Mexico City Metro () is a rapid transit system that serves Greater Mexico City, the metropolitan area of Mexico City, including some municipalities in the State of Mexico. Operated by the Sistema de Transporte Colectivo (STC), it is the Lis ...

stations San Lázaro and Candelaria *1994-2002

L'Oceanogràfic L'Oceanogràfic (, , 'The Oceanographic') is an oceanarium situated in the Garden of the Turia to the southeast of the city center of Valencia, Spain, where different marine habitats are represented. It was designed by the architect Félix Cande ...

Valencia, Spain Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

References

External links

Félix Candela architectural records and papers, 1950-1984
*
Palmira Chapel – Felix Candela in Frame and Form

Félix Candela Costruttore di sogni
Borgo San Lorenzo, 2006.
''Felix Candela, Builder of Dreams''
*
Bilder der Werke von ''Félix Candela''
at ''praella.com''
The non-built architecture of Felix Candela
PhD thesis. del Blanco García, Federico Luis (2017). E.T.S. Arquitectura (UPM). {{DEFAULTSORT:Candela, Felix IStructE Gold Medal winners 1910 births 1997 deaths Structural engineers Concrete shell structures Modernist architects Polytechnic University of Madrid alumni 20th-century Mexican architects 20th-century Spanish architects Spanish emigrants to Mexico Mexican expatriates in the United States