edited by

Fausto Giovannardi
Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

2
 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
At the beginning of modern,
manufacturers said the impulse to create
new models. The next innovation to wrap
the concrete has led to materialize the
most extreme forms: the boldness was
accompanied to the imagination and the
forms and materials have been adapted
at all efforts. One of the main protagonists
of this development was around the
middle of last century Félix Candela
(hereafter FC), who is remembered for
his extraordinary roof of
concrete shell, the shape of hyperbolic
paraboloids.
La obras mejor es la que sostiene por
su forma.1
Eduardo Torroja
1
The best work is that it maintains for its shape.
steel Life
Outeriño Félix Candela, was one of the
most important architects of the twentieth
century. His adventurous life can be
divided into three periods, matching his
stay in Spain, Mexico and the United
States.
The first period runs from birth, in Madrid
on January 27, 1910, until the end of the
reinforced
Spanish Civil War in March 1939.
Son of traders from Crevillente
(Valencia), which tells you not heard the
call, which seems to have had other
famous architects or engineers, but that
had little since the desire to build.
Completed higher studies, is enrolled in
the School of Architecture in Madrid for
the event or the advice of a friend. Now
you wilt in the study of descriptive
geometry, and the third year in the
Resistencia de Materiales, who studied
with Professor Luis Vegas, where he
became a student assistant. His interest
in the artistic aspects was very low, and
also in the field of design is declared
incapable. Its focus was entirely on the
technical side of architecture and usually
for exact sciences.
In Youth FC was a good athlete and won
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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
several national competitions in alpine
skiing and rugby team.
The years of its formation were years of
great political and cultural effervescence,
culminating in 1931 with the proclamation
of the Second Spanish Republic, which
put an end to the monarchy of Alfonso
XIII. The cultural openness of the new
government allowed the proliferation of
new and different philosophical and
artistic trends.
He graduated in 1935, immediately
opened a small studio with Eduardo
Robles and Ramirez Dampierre. While
arrangement giving repetitions and doing
small jobs, Candela deepened the study
of structure design of steel and reinforced
concrete. The shell structures that are
built in Europe in the twenties (Dischinger
in Germany, Freyssinet in France, Nervi
in Italy and Eduardo Torroja in Spain,
etc.) Drew the attention of very young
Candela, so much so that in 1936 won a
scholarship Study of the Academy of Fine
Arts of San Fernando, with the argument:
"The influence of new trends in the
technique of reinforced concrete above
the Architectural Form". Decided to use
the prize for an internship in Germany
and Finsterwalder Dischinger, had
already purchased the train ticket to leave
on July 18 1936, when the news came
the attempted military coup by the troops
of Francisco Franco, and Félix Candela
not departed. Shortly after it enlisted, the
army as a volunteer Republican to defend
the legality of golpisti against Franco.
Years later, thinking back to this choice,
FC showed no regrets, and indeed said:
"I could not even benefit from the
knowledge of German professors,
learned some lessons from the revolution
and civil war, I was very useful."
FC was assigned to Comandancia de
Obras to Albacete and shortly after was
promoted to Capitán de Ingenieros. The
civil war 2was long and ended with the
victory of the nationalists of Francisco
Franco. After a long retreat through the
2
The Spanish Civil War breaks out in 1936. The
general elections of February 16 left-wing forces are
returning to the government, through the first
experiment of Popular Front. On July 18, however, the
situation falls: some military garrisons arise against the
Republican government ( "alzamiento") and General
Franco arrived on the national soil with the colonial
troops from Morocco. It is the beginning of the civil war,
with serious repercussions on the international level.
Spain is the scene of the first armed clash between
fascism and antifascism, with the participation of many
intellectuals from all over the world, from the U.S. (from
Dos Passos to Hemingway), and with the Italians - the
Mussolini black shirts from a hand, and the anti-fascists
and anarchists on the other - committed on both sides.
The war will end at the end of March 1939 with nearly
one million dead and the victory of the nationalists of
Francisco Franco and the establishment of a
dictatorship based on the legislative power of the
"Caudillo" and the repression of opponents (the "Feroz
Matanza "), Which will last until 1975 and cause the
deaths of 200,000 anti-fascists, hundreds of thousands
of people sentenced to various penalties, 300,000
exiles.
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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
Pyrenees, the group Candela found
refuge in the concentration camp at
Perpignan, France, where he remained
for four months as an exile3, the fate
wished that her name was among those
that Mexico was willing to accept .
Candela landed at Veracruz (Mexico) on
June 13 1939. Among the more than a
thousand exiled Spaniards, who were
welcomed in Mexico, 25 were architects,
and Felix Candela one of the youngest. In
addition to Spanish, other architects also
arrived foreigners fleeing from totalitarian
regimes in Europe, as Cetto and Hannes
Max Meier.
The arrival of this flower technicians
coincided with a period of great
development for the Central American
country, where government incentives
construction, to meet the popular demand
of residences.
Thus beginning the second period of his
life. Initially settled in a Spanish colony of
exiles, 100 km north of Chihuahua, where
shortly after she married Eladio Martin,
who knew from Madrid. In 1941 both took
the Mexican nationality. Since their
marriage were born four children:
Antonia, Teresa, and sister Pilar and
Manola.
During the years 1941 and 1942 Felix
Candela worked in Acapulco, in
partnership with a manufacturer. It then
3 builder, took care of yards and Julia administration. The
France recognized the Franco government, and then
exiles became a problem.
moved to Mexico City to work with Jesús
Martí, a refugee himself Spanish, who
directed a study of architecture. There it
remained for four years, probably the
most peaceful of his life, working on the
construction of many residential buildings,
and the reconstruction of the Casino de la
Selva in Cuernavaca, recently returned to
the fore because nearly destroyed to
make way for a supermarket4. In just
created a hotel and a cinema in
Guamúchil and built its first line of section
(at trial) and then apply it in the draft of a
ural school in Tamaulipas.
The gain realized that he was sufficient to
come to Mexico, Spain, his mother and
his sister Julia and also shortly after his
brother Antonio5.
Confident and optimistic for the prospects
of his work, decided to found a building
contractor specializing in roofing. Thus
cubiertas Ala, a company with the
4
A serious attack on the World Cultural Heritage has been
made in Cuernavaca in Mexico: the destruction of the Casino
de la Selva, the Mexican Sistine Chapel. " The Mexican weekly
'La Jornada' reported the protest of Colombian writer Gabriel
Garcia Marquez who, along with a group of intellectuals, will
submit to UNESCO a project to transform the Casino de la
Selva in an International Institute of the Arts. The building was
a 'work of famous Spanish architect Felix Candela that ahead
of the curve, the known hazards hyperbolic parabolic dome.
The demolition, authorized by the Municipal Presidency,
started by the U.S. supermarket chain Price costs, continuing
with considerable environmental damage by the Wall-Mart,
even without the permission of Environmental Management. A
massacre aggravated by the destruction of works of art of
painting murals that were inside the complex, signed works by
Siqueiros, Orozco, Rivera, Silvio Benedetto, Atl, messenger,
Camarena, Renau, Meza, Flores, Ballester, Gonzales, Cueva
Del Rio, Pena, Icaza. An even ecological disaster, one that
involved the "Jardin de l'Art" (another name of the Casino de la
Selva). The weekly Valencia 'El temps' in an article entitled
"Vandalism in Mexico'" the complaint also killing lots of trees.
5
The Rangel brothers were members for only 3 years. Felix
assumed the presidency, while Antonio who was master
company will operate until 1976, but will leave the Félix
Candela in 1969.
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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

architects brother Raul and Fernando fortuitous double curvature surface.

Fernandez Rangel, who was also In 1951 Candela achieves coverage that
participate Antonio and Julia. will give him international fame: the
In this endeavor Felix Candela was Pabellón de rayos Cósmicos. A small
architect, engineer, consultant, computer, pavilion 12 x 10.75 meters, designed by
contractor and manufacturer. His first Jorge González Reyna and build within
contract was a block of apartments with the university campus, to host a
shops on the ground floor. The structural workshop.
calculations and drawings executives Specialist for measuring neutrons. The
were treated to the smallest details. The request was that of the coverage had a
same client then entrusted the thickness not exceeding 1.5 cm. Candela
construction of Hotel Catedral in calle de propose to use a double curvature
Donceles (DF) on draft Nabor Carrillo, instead of the cylindrical coverage
who later become rector of UNAM6.
While working hard, Candela continued to
study and to upgrade. Reading an article
about Winter Grorge Journal of the
American Concrete Institute, which
discussed the construction of times a
double curvature, rekindled his interest
for the young thin shell structures. He
began to search for articles and, after
having translated with the help of the
dictionary from English, French and
German, began to study them in depth,
seeking the ability to calculate these
provided in the draft Gonzàlez Reyna,
structures using the simplest of those
arguing that this gave the geometric
classics. A second trial, he was standing
stiffness needed to allow the execution of
in the soil of the Fabric Fernàndez. Issue
a cover thickness. This was the first
once conoidale 15 x 6 meters, with a
example in which Candela used a
thickness of 3 cm, supported on the
solution of parabolide hyperbolic (or
sides, two strings of different bolt, one of
Hypar7), a geometric shape that had
them very low, much to generate a
7
The structures in the shape of hyperbolic paraboloids (Hypar
6
with the abbreviation USA) in architecture have been realized
National Autonomous University of Mexico. for the first time dall'ingegnere Russian Vladimir Shuklov

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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
studied in an article published in 19368,
and that will come to know and dominate,
used with great virtuosity, to generate
those Manti soft and sinuous that
constitute its most emblematic creations.
The success that got him exclaim9: "que
es fácil hacerse famous", and such a
strong stimulus for creative and
confidence in their skills. He began to
write articles about his work and sent one
of the first, entitled "Consideraciones al
Diseño de Estructuras de Reforzado
Concrete", all 'ACI Journal, who refused
because little technical. (The newspaper,
two years later, he accepted his job
"Estructuras de Simples Concrete"). In
1951 presented an essay, "Hacia una
nueva de las Estructuras Philosophy," the
Mexican Scientific Congress II.
Meanwhile (1953) became a professor
and then head of the department of
architecture at the University of Mexico
City.
From the construction of Pabellón de
rayos Cósmicos, Candela began to
receive assignments of greater
importance. Mostly worked with his
(1853-1939), which rifece to areas with double curvature,
defined by analytically Russian mathematician Nikolai
Lobachevsky. The first structure was the coverage of the
Russian pavilion of 1896 to Nizhny Novgorod.
8
F. Amond “ Etude statique des voiles minces en
paraboloidee hyperbolique travaillant sans flexion”
Zurich,1936
9 1963 with the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Madrid,
“por fin, al cumplir los quaranta anos, descubrì
asombrado que mi desordenata y casual formaciòn
parecìa haber sido misteriosamente dirigida en un
determinado sentito que me permitia encontrarme
preparado para la labor que tenìa que ejecutar” F.
Candela: En defensa del formalismo y otros escrittos ,
Xairat Ediciones, Bilbao 1985 , p.9
company cubiertas Ala, as a collaborator
of the main architects Mexicans10, who
had their increasingly capricious projects,
he was almost a magician. Candela
defined geometrically, regularized,
rejected what seemed illogical and
transformed ideas into a project, which
instructed the calculation of the building
and then convert the idea into reality. In
regards wrote in 1959: "My main job is to
simplify and regularize the rough and I
have to convince that the outcome is not
in constructing forms extravagant, but get
things simple, carefully studying the
details." 11
Between 1951 and 1953 created 5
residential buildings for the periodic
Novedades, who drawn between its
subscribers, in the Jardin del Pedregal,
within the revolutionary project of urban
Luis Barragàn. Candela used shells, as
interp, but the experience is not found
10
The key collaborations:
Los Almacenes de Las Aduanas (customs warehouses)
Vallejo, 1953 with Carlos Recamier.
The markets, built between 1955 and 1956 in Coyoacan,
Azcapotzalco and Anahuac, with Pedro Ramirez Vàzquez and
Rafael Mijares.
The Restaurant at Los Manantiales Xochimilco, in 1958, with
Joaquin A'lvarez Ordoñez
The Capilla de abierta Palmira in Cuernavaca in 1959 with
Rosell and Manuel Guillermo Larrosa.
Then there is a long and fruitful relationship with Enrique de La
Mora Lopez and Fernando Carmona, which began in 1955
with coverage of the stock market (Bolsa de valores) of
Mexico, the various churches: el Altillo (Coyoacan, 1955), San
Antonio de las Huertas (DF, 1955), San Jose obrero
(monterrey, 1959), San Vicente de Paul (DF, 1959), which
continued even when the two architects are separated in 1960
with the church of Santa Monica Lopez of Carmona and in
which was the first by a Mexican architect in Spain and which
marked the return of professional Candela in his native
homeland.
In last collaboration with Santiago Calatrava for the project of
'Oceanographic in Valencia, work completed posthumously.
11
F. Candela, “Carta de Fèlix Candela al director” in
Arquitectura, Madrid Ottobre 1959
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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
positive and not the shots anymore.
A year after he built his own house, a villa
in traditional Mediterranean style, a
Tlacopac, in the south east of Mexico
City. In this regard commented: "I will not
chance to show my house a few architect
,..., all hope that living in a monstrous
turned with the roof and walls of glass." 12
In this period Candela built the first
prototype paraguas (umbrella).
Quadrangular coverage consists of four
timpani of hypar, supported by a single
central pillar, which found space inside
the pipe rain. Because of its cost-
effectiveness and speed of construction
(you could reuse the same housing), this
structure had a huge spread and was the
kind of coverage required by most
builders and architects Mexicans, for
industrial buildings and above all service
stations.
In its 26 years of operation (1950-1976)
the company cubiertas Ala performed an
impressive number of works: 1439 drew
up plans, which were built 896, of which
over 90% were industrial buildings. The
period of increased activity was between
1956 and 1960, five of which were built in
a total of 395 works.13
Among the
12
Giral, A. « la arquitectura de Fèlix Candela » in
AA.VV.El desierro espanol en America. Madrid Min.
Cultura.
13
Tabla de obras de Cubiertas Ala, Germenon Salum
da Juan Tonda Magallón Ediciones Corunda 2000
Mexico DF
works of the company cubiertas Ala are
worthy of mention, in Mexico: Atzeca
Stadium, the University Theater Center
and the Electronic National Autonomous
University of Mexico, the monumental
arch of Monterrey, and in the international
arena, the Cuban Presidential Palace,
whose creation was decided before the
fall of Batista, the Auditorium of
Cartography of Caracas, the Auditorium
of Maracaibo, the Hemisfair Tower of San
Antonio, the Crystal Palace in London
and the sports complex at the University
of Rhode Brown Island.
They were the years when Félix Candela,
now considered the main designer of
times in the world, was a constant
presence in magazines worldwide, and
was invited to give lectures in many
universities, mainly in the U.S.. His
reports were always an example of
simplicity and they confirmed the
skepticism of youth compared to the
complicated calculations of the theory of
membrane structures. The criticisms
made to the theory that the role of
practice, created hostilities within the
many small circuit of international
specialists.
In July 1961, in London, during the
congress of the
International Union
of Architects (UIA)
he was awarded
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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
the prestigious Auguste Perret Prize for
the excellence of his work. A month after
he was decorated with a gold medal that
the Institution of Engineers structural
engineers assigned to the best structural
engineers in the world (before him:
JFBaker in 1052, Eugene Freyssinet
1957, Hardy Cross 1958).
In 1963 his wife died five years later she
married Candela, the architect U.S.
Dorothy Davies.
The last important work of Felix Candela
was the Palazzo dello Sport for the
Olympic Games in Mexico City in 1968,
built in collaboration with Enrique
Castañeda and Antonio Peyre, which
replaced the use of shells of concrete, not
suitable for large lights , With an
economic and ingenious semi-metal
structure, divided into panels that are
inserted elements shaped paraguas,
covered with plates of copper. The effect
is that of the shell of a large turtle, which
has become a symbol of the Mexican
capital. In 1971, after nearly two decades
teaching at the National Autonomous
University of Mexico, decided to emigrate
to the U.S., to teach at the University of
Illinois. This influenced the decision, the
misunderstandings with the management
of the Faculty of Architecture, the new
American wife and the decline of his
company cubiertas Ala, a consequence of
the fact that times had changed and there
were no more conditions (suitable for
manod'opera and low so, flexible rules
and creativity) of the gold. And then
starts the third period of his life, in which
Candela had a profound transformation
professional and creative led him to
abandon his work as designer
/manufacturer. Moved to Chicago where
he was a full-time professor at the
University of Illinois from 1971 to 1978,
when it adopted U.S. citizenship. Do not
let all of his creative work, is associated
to the study Idea Center in Toronto and
attended to ambitious projects, including
the Santiago Bernabeu stadium in Madrid
(that project was not realized), the City of
Sport in Kuwait, the Islamic Cultural
Center Madrid, a tower of offices in
Riyadh, an airport in Murcia, coverage for
a stadium Islamic University in Riyadh,
the Feria de Muestras of Marbella, the
Legislature of Veracruz, the Master Plan
of Islamic, the Prosecutor of Xalapa hotel
in Cancun, and ultimately the City of Arts
and Science in Valencia, with space built
in the park where Oceanographic
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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

coverage of access and the restaurant

are underwater parabolidi hyperbolic
concrete, made in collaboration with
Santiago Calatrava, which has the merit
of making worthy tribute to this great
teacher, for too long forgotten.
Is to Valencia, as
a result of again
of an old heart
disease, Félix
Candela returned to the United States, to
Raleigh in North Carolina, where he lived
from 1990 to be admitted all'Hospital de
Duke, where he died on December 7
1997 .

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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

The projects and achievements

Some of the major works and projects by Félix Candela:

1940 Hotel e appartamenti ad Acapulco, in collaborazione con Bringas.

1950-1951 Pabellón de los Rayos Cósmicos, Città del Messico.
1953-1957 Iglesia de la Medalla de la Virgen Milagrosa, Navarte.
1954-1955 Fábrica Celestino Fernández, Colonia Vallejo.
1954-1955 Bolsa de Valores, Città del Messico.
1955 Capilla de Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, Coyoacán.
1955-1956 Quiosco de Música, Santa Fe.
1956 Capilla de San Antonio de las Huertas, Tacuba.
1956-1957 Club notturno La Jacaranda, Acapulco.
1956-1957 Restaurante Los Manantiales, Xochimilco.
1957-1958 Capilla abierta en Lomas de Cuernavaca, Palmira.
1958-1959 Basílica de Guadalupe, Città del Messico.
1958-1959 Iglesia de San José Obrero, Monterrey.
1959 Capilla de San Vicente Paul, Coyoacán.
1959-1960 Capilla de Santa Mónica, San Lorenzo di Xochimancas.
1959-1960 Planta embotelladora ditta Bacardí, Cuautitlán.
1962-1963 Iglesia Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, Madrid, Spagna.
1965-1968 Palacio de Deportes per la XIX Olimpiade Città del Messico.
1966 Parroquia del Señor del Campo Florido, Città del Messico.
1994-2002 L'Oceanogràfic, Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, Valencia,
Spagna.

to convert the structures

laminaria in a work of art." His
greatest contribution in the field
were the structural laminaria
concrete structures, generated
from hyperbolic paraboloids
(Hypar), a geometric shape of
Roofing read in concrete form of extraordinary effectiveness, which
armed with umbrellas spigolosi in a draft version, has become the
(edges) or sinuous mantle, that hallmark of its architecture.
Felix Candela built in the fifties and
sixties, made it a symbol of The first shell (cascarones14) that
Mexican twentieth century. As Frei has built Candela, was once a
Otto said: "Candela only managed 14
Literally: Shell egg.

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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

funicular trial in the summer of which breaks away supported by a

1949. For its construction followed small support to V.
the example of some prototypes The commitment with which
built in England during the Second Candela had studied the Strength
World War. It seems that the of Materials allowed him to
inventor of the time was Kurt understand how illusory are the so-
Billing, and the system used to be called analysis accurate: "When I
called "Ctesiphon", the name of an started to build shells, my mind
old arcade building in Syria. The was making from school. As
success achieved with this students we believe in everything
experiment encourages Candela to that we is taught, for example, that
consider the possibility of devoting there are methods to calculate the
themselves to building shells. exact structures. I started working
Indispensabie was proposing to stop believing in everything that I
something different in order to believed. But this is a necessary, if
survive in the highly competitive one wants to build something
field of construction in Mexico. At original "
about the same Candela, said: The Pabellón de rayos Cósmicos
"despite the Mexican tradition of designed with Jorge Gonzales
building curved shapes and bold, Reyna, for the city university of
concrete vaults were to look with Mexico City, with its undulating
suspicion. We thought they were concrete cover thickness of only 15
unsafe, because of subsoil mm, which allows measurement
conditions and frequent from the neutron, is one of the most
earthquakes" emblematic buildings of his work.
Coverage for a coach was the With its shape, almost a spaceship
second adventure of Candela with about to land, was the first
hypars. The shape is very similar to structure acclaimed by all and that
the time of the Pavilion de rayos brings fame.
Cosmicos But here were omitted From 1951 to 1953, his work was
arcs irrigidenti. One of the edges an impressive variety. These two
supports the rocky soil and the years were essential to understand,
other is supported by a wall of almost intuitively how the shells.
concrete, the sides of the shell Focused on the most simple,

12
 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

guided by two principles that are and to cover the Auditorium of the
essential in these structures: the Faculty of Chemical Sciences of
static and geometry. Built short the University of Mexico City, which
times, prismatic and is
corrugated sheets, formed
cones, fan, domes, by two
almost the entire range
of forms known. In
Residence Romero,
Candela had the
truncated cones, joined a long
opportunity to do a cover sheet to
common border. The light cone
Sinusoidal15. L'inspirazione The
rising from 9 to 18 meters. The
inspiration came from a photograph
media were inclined an added
at Copenhagen, designed by
feature, compared to the original
Vilhelm Lauritzen. The structure
plan to improve its appearance.
was so obvious that Candela was
Candela such comments, "I
"trying to do something similar."
thought to avoid the problems of
Candela built two more of these
calculation on the rods and cones
structures. Methods of
as giving form of line."
prefabricated steel were used for
This is the only building in which
Escuola Montes Alpes and for a
Candela has worked with cones,
seminar. The first is a two-story
and is also one of the few
structure with light of 8 meters and
instances where he worked as a
sudden changes of 2.5 mt from
consultant only and not as
both sides. The second has four
supervisor.
floors, and in the original intentions
In 1953, he built an elliptical dome
were to be six. Probably this was
to cover with a roof of the
the first time that shells were used
residence hall dance Gallego
as interpiani. But there were a good
Center. The dome is relatively low
solution and Candela came to be
and based on existing walls, but
seen as a "search path without
since the plant's dome does not
hope." 1952 is working with
correspond to the walls, his weight
Guillermo Enrique Yanez Rosel
is transferred to them through a
15
The covers that folded prism or the Germans call
"Faltwerke" and the French "toits plissés" follow the complicated system of rays
principle of resistance through the corrugated

13
 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
perimeter. Its strength was put to
the test when the owners, showing
a confidence that, as Candela
says, "I do not fully shared," did you
hang in the center, an old
chandelier weighing over one ton.
This concentrated load huge, so
cheerfully imposed on the dome,
was born until now, without signs of
strain.
The simplest structure created with
hypar was the umbrella upside
down (paraguas invertido) which
combines four rectangular sails,
divided by straight lines and is
joining the center in a single center
column where the exhaust pipe
rain. For all this was a very simple
and economical to cover the space
industry, petrol stations and other
places where moving vehicles.
Umbrellas began to be used for
shelters Input attractiveness of
laboratories, warehouses and other
buildings.
In Candela there are a series of
notes that describe the various
types and sizes possible. One
show even an umbrella for sample
plan, designed to resist heavy
loads, dedicated to many car parks
plans or wholesale stores.
That this could be a practical
solution for low cost housing was
demonstrated by several hundred
units erected on the plains of
Monterrey. The umbrella side
produced a more attractive roof of
the traditional flat plate, usually
used in Mexico for such work. The
structure, used in repeated, was
because all the economic load of
the roof were focused on one point,
with the savings resulting in the
foundations of walls that were not
solicited. Candela built for a hotel in
Cuernavaca, thirty bungalows with
roofs that have a similar plant 14 x
7 mt. Their inhabitants called the
"Japanese houses."
Soon this solution consists of a
large number of variants, such as
plant forms with triangular or
hexagonal. The use of a
diagonal rib and curve
allowed to increase the size
blankets. Advancing in this
kind of evolution dell'hypar,
very soon discovered they
14
 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

were the main dishes and asymmetric and with different

horizontal cuts that are hyperbole curvature to allow the passage of
from which it takes its name light through this became suitable
pompous this surface almost for building churches and other
magical. Uniting them for their buildings with more aesthetic
curved edges, is formed when two needs. So it came to designing the
similar at the intersection Church of the Virgen de la
cylindrical cruising aisles of the Medalla milagro.
ancient churches, often built with
masonry brick or stone. The This church, built from 1953, is an
difference now is that instead of extraordinary building. The
intersection of cylinders, it has powerful structure is a fearless
un'intersecazione of iperboloidi and combination of deformed surfaces,
instead of masonry, reinforced which create an impressive interior
concrete, two important features of space. As it seems chaotic, there is
modernity. the play of natural forms of Gaudi
and Picasso cubist experiments.
Subsequently, many works were Based on the pattern of a
performed with the base of a traditional plant with three naves, at
paraboloid with only the edges shells coverage of 4 cm in
limited by arches and many other thickness, in this work reaches its
combinations were sought from the highest expression plastic. Candela
edge rectum combined with that achieves a spectacular and
bent. With this last combination innovative structure that recalls the
was very spectacular the Church of gothic cathedrals, expressed
Santa Mónica, designed by through the structure a sense of
Fernando López Carmona and ascension. The main front is a
enforced by cubiertas Ala. In its large triangle, while the front side is
plant with a fan, ten branches of shaped zigzagante generated by
paraboloid with a clearance of 30 m the extremes of the four triangular
that have joined the center in one side chapels. In fact, the structure
sturdy column, which gives the of this church is the result of
impression of being a big palm. successive paraguas, with whom
Then umbrellas became he played Candela, a modified form

15
 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

and breaking the symmetry. The
columns take a distorted form,
designed intuitively as the loads
that must lead, and there are no
capitals and virtually
communication between support
and coverage, which results in a
single item. Even the high tower is
made with hypars. Developers of
the church wanted a traditional
design (in the Gothic style) and not
suspect that they might
something more. It is as if Candela
you would see how far you can go
with this type of structures. In this
respect, the Gothic church is a
triangular, with all its vertical
emphasis. Given the basic idea of
umbrellas and their zigzag edges
through the air, Candela said:
"Everything in her designs are
more or less by himself." The
preliminary draft was done in an
afternoon, designed in a week and
calculated during construction. The
calculations (necessarily extended,
because all surfaces have different
configuration) revealed
unexpected push towards
upper edges of the roof. The
comments on this project led to
Candela wrote: "Sometimes the
imposing stone of the Gothic
cathedrals and Renaissance
domes daring were built without aid
of differential calculus, but instead
of it, made use of a great sense of '
balance and sensible view of the
no game of forces, as very necessary
for a manufacturer, much more
profound knowledge of discoveries
of mathematics"
In an interview at a premium,
Candela said that this was the work
that had given more satisfaction,
get and the question of whether the
public liked, said, "especially for
16
women architects like ,..., not. "
Candela in 1955, built by Enrique
de la Mora and Fernando Carmona
López a series of structures. La
Capilla del Altillo had a
completely different concept than
that of the church de la Medalla
milagro. Artwork created by this
collaboration was the New Stock
Exchange of Values of Calle de
Uruguay in Mexico City, which was
built in a coverage of 15 x 26 m
and a height of 8.25 m in the
center, supported in the four
an corners which was the first
the example of an object with the draft.
This is a particular feature which
has qualified the work of Candela:
the development of the draft.
16
Ramirez Dampierre in Arquitectura n.30
giugno 1961 Madrid.

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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

Candela says have come almost by to Xochimilco, built between 1957

intuition: "I knew that the draft was and 1958, the architect for the
a practice, long before we project Joaquín Álvarez Ordóñez,
intellectually understand how it where sometimes polygonal came
worked," and also describes how to at 25 and 30 meters in diameter.
obtain the necessary resistance, "if
we want to keep the edges free, we
must provide some edges or
corners, that reach the ground for
inclined lines ... "17

From such a time of four branches,

it was proven variant three, five six
more branches, to become a plant
polygonal times with the same
solution to iperboloidi cloaks.
With this type were carried out

many jobs, the most extraordinary

of which is the dining room at the
Casino de la Selva in Cuernavaca
(five branches) and the restaurant
Los Manantiales (eight branches)
17
F.Candela in Arquitectura/Mexico anno XXX
tomo XXIII,n.100 aprile/giugno 1968

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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
Another work is characterized in its
great production, quality and
innovative proposal: the building of
bottling factory Bacardi (1958). For
the building of Bacardi, Candela
was inspired to form the airport of
San Luis Minoru Yamasaki of
Missouri. Six large domes of 30
meters of light and 4 cm thick,
arranged in pairs to form three
rows, covering an area of more
than 5000 square meters. Each
dome is a square and composed
from two hypar, with the four sides
by archways delimited parabola
profile inclined to "draft", from
which, in parts of fit, vertical
triangular sections, sealed glass,
that allow the passage of light. The
outer perimeter arches are closed
by large windows which, the
dynamic space, along with ribs and
triangular windows, an amazing
brightness.
The building of Candela is not far
from the project that Mies van der
Rohe has done in Mexico: the
place of Bacardy y Cia. Open as
usual Candela, he criticized the
large flat recital coverage against
nature to the concrete work in that
form little logic, and then
estrendere dissent across the
rationalist architecture.
In 1961, while he was in London,
the sixth International Congress of
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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
Architects, FC was impressed by
the project of the "itinerant theater,"
by a young Spanish student Emilio
Perez Piñero (1935-1972) and
won. He began a passionate
friendship and cooperation that is
expressed in the draft competition
for the coverage of the Anoeta
Velodrome in San Sebastian (ES).
For this job FC returned to Spain in
1972. The project provided a great
dome geodetic, obtained the
intersection of three families of
arms, forming reticles regular
hexagons and triangles and a
mesh is inserted covering elements
of hypar. Emilio Perez Piñero, a
young genius of the structures,
ended his earthly extraordinary
adventure, in an accident with his
Ferrari, a Dali, and visited some
sites.
. lighting. In these umbrellas formed
One recent work (1967)
which was designed Candela
coverage of the hall of station of
Metro Candelaria, which uses the
same kind of umbrella of x14 m 6,
repeated for 22 times, grouped in
11 pairs symmetrical leaving an
aisle Central to the central zenithal
lighting. In these umbrellas formed
a kind of palm leaf with twelve
mantle. The resulting effect is
striking, with the columns (4 meters
high) that seem the trunk of the
palm species naturally.
One recent work (1967) which was
designed Candela coverage of the
hall of station of Metro Candelaria,
which uses the same kind of
umbrella of x14 m 6, repeated for
22 times, grouped in 11 pairs
symmetrical leaving an aisle
Central to the central zenithal
a kind of palm leaf with twelve
mantle. The resulting effect is
striking, with the columns (4
meters high) that seem the trunk of
the palm species naturally..
Cubiertas Ala
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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
With his company Cubiertas Ala.
were made 1439 projects, of which
896 built. A lot of these buildings
was an industrial and well known
forms of umbrellas, which still can
be seen in many gas stations and
service of the Federal District
(Mexico City). You must remember
that this type of structure, which
has a single central column houses
where the pipe and rain with only a
plinth of Trustees, is one of the
most celebrated contributions to
Candela for its lightness, simplicity
and economy, which have been
performed many works, in which
the use repetitive allowed to cover
thousands of square meters and
build industrial buildings without the
need for a real project, but through
a simple procedure that ended up
being standardized.
Roofing shaped hyperbolic
paraboloid, that marked an era
dell'architetura Mexican, could be
built only in that place and at that
precise moment, thanks to the
ability and constructive vision of
space Félix Candela and a few
other architects who dominated the
complex system needed to develop
constructive and availability of high
labor cheap. Works impossible to
achieve in other countries, because
the thin strips of concrete that
comply with these shells, do not
comply with the regulations for
construction in the more developed
countries. In this regard Candela
writes:
"The strict regulations of what can
be done, it means virtually
impossible groped for new roads,
to evolve and progress.".18
The key to the process of
construction of the shell was in the
complicated development of
housing (Cimbrian), made with
planks of wood panconcello, which
comply with surface turned, that
gave shape to cover. Above the
housing is the armature of small
diameter, to form a lattice above
which threw the cement, to a
thickness of 4 cm. As soon as this
had taken detach the housing and
the shell takes its final form. To do
this it needed the participation of
many people, recruited from
migration from the countryside who
came to town, and that contributed
work men good low cost. When in
1964 President Gustavo Diaz
Ordaz, promulgated a law that
increased the minimum wage, los
cascarones ceased to be
convenient and enterprise
18
Look note 17
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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

Cubiertas Ala began its inexorable Architect or engineer

decline. Many architects say that Félix
Candela was a magnificent
structure, but that does not ever
completed its work. We do not put
doors and windows, nor ended the
various installations, and not of
concern. In a word, preparing the
structure and then not occupied
most of what happened afterwards.
So, say that he is not entitled to be
between the architects.
Some engineers argue that Félix
Candela was a wonderful architect
who did not know how to calculate
its structures, which often made
eye. So modest is its importance in
the history of engineering.
Félix Candela is in a no man's land
and is attacked from two fronts,
seemingly irreconcilable.
Looking at his work is evident that
he is predominantly occupied
structures, but only those that are
indispensable for architecture, not
bridges, depots, the works of their
buildings and other engineering.
In particular, the specific nature of
his work lies in the sensitivity that
was in line with resistant forms.
His biggest contribution in the field
of structural facilities were in the
form of shells, generated from
hyperbolic paraboloid, a geometric

21
 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni
shape of extraordinary efficiency
that has become the hallmark of its
architecture. Candela has
expressed in his work a few ideas:
the idea that the structure must be
a poet, the belief that the
structure is shaped much more
than the material used, and the
line of research on reading
coverages of reinforced
concrete.
All the work of Félix Candela
reaffirms the role of the designer
in relation to structural problems,
for research form of resistance:
the extraordinary relationship
between strength and resistance,
he always sought the shape of
the problem, not the problem of
form.
Here's why he was an architect
structure or whether more like an
architectural structure.
Awards
1961 Gold Medal from Istitution
of engineer Structurist, London.
1961 award Auguste Perret from
International union of Architets.
1961/62 Charles Eliot Norton
professor of Poetry
dell'Università di Harvard
Cambridge/Massachusetts
1981 Gold Medal of the
architectural
1985 Award Antonio Camuñas
of architecture.
22
 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

Technical and theoretical Enrique Chao, “Fèlix Candela: una

writings
lux nel corazon” in Construcción y
Hacia una nueva filosofia de la
Tecnología rivista dell’Instituto
estructuras,Congresso Scientifico
Mexicano del Cemento y del
Mexico 1951
Concreto, Mexico, dicembre 2003.
Formulas generales para el calculo
Juan Tonda Magallòn "Félix
de esfuerzos en paraboloides
Candela” CONACULTA, mexico
hiperbolicos. ACI 1960
2000
En defensa del formalismo y otros
Lorraine Lin, “Fèlix Candela:
escrittos , Xairat Ediciones, Bilbao
Creator de poetic structures 1910-
1985
1997”, in Structure Magazine,
Stress Analysis for any Hyperbolic
aprile 2006.
Paraboloids Architectural Record
Juan de Herrera
(1958)
« Félix Candela, arquitecto.”
Edición de M. Seguí, Madrid;
Bibliografía:
Faber, Colin, "Las estructuras de CEHOPU / 1994.
Candela" , México, Continental ,
Josemaría de Churtichaga
1970
« La estructura veloz –
Juan Ignacio del Cueto Ruiz
Trayectorias estructurale a
Funes, “Fèlix Candela, el mago de
proposito de la obra de Emilio
los cascarones de concreto”, in
Perez Pinero y Fèlix Candela.”
Arquine, rivista internacional de
http://chqs.onexp.com/estudio.htm
arquitectura, Mexico, n.2, 1997

"My greatest satisfaction was to have performed some spectacular

structures ,..., but that he had proved that the construction of thin shells,
not an extraordinary undertaking that immortalized its author, but a
constructive process simple and flexible .. "

Edizione Dicembre 2006

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 Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

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