Félix Candela
Encyclopedia
Félix Candela Outeriño was a Spanish
architect
known for his significant role in the development of Mexican architecture and structural engineering
. Candela’s major contribution to architecture was the development of thin shells
made out of reinforced concrete
. Félix Candela died at the age of 87 years old in 1997 in North Carolina
.
, 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 didn’t show intellectual or aesthetic efforts in school. He didn’t even like pure mathematics. When Candela was a student in Madrid, the schools taught the theory of elasticity 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.
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
.
or shell like shape. This shape eliminates tensile
force
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. 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.
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.
in Mexico since 2002: 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 property of Manuel Suarez y Suarez who hire the 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 Wal-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.
at Columbia University
in New York City.
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
known for his significant role in the development of Mexican architecture and structural engineering
Structural engineering
Structural engineering is a field of engineering dealing with the analysis and design of structures that support or resist loads. Structural engineering is usually considered a specialty within civil engineering, but it can also be studied in its own right....
. Candela’s major contribution to architecture was the development of thin shells
Thin-shell structure
Thin-shell structures are light weight constructions using shell elements. These elements are typically curved and are assembled to large structures...
made out of reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete
Reinforced concrete is concrete in which reinforcement bars , reinforcement grids, plates or fibers have been incorporated to strengthen the concrete in tension. It was invented by French gardener Joseph Monier in 1849 and patented in 1867. The term Ferro Concrete refers only to concrete that is...
. Félix Candela died at the age of 87 years old in 1997 in North Carolina
North Carolina
North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...
.
Early life
Felix Candela was born in Madrid, Spain in 1910. In 1927 Candela enrolled in La Escuela Superior de Arquitectura (Madrid Superior Technical School of Architecture)Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid
The Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid is the superior school of architecture of the Technical University of Madrid , Spain. It prepares future architects and grants the title of Architect, as well as doctorates and diverse master degrees. The center is located on the Avenida Juan...
, 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 didn’t show intellectual or aesthetic efforts in school. He didn’t even like pure mathematics. When Candela was a student in Madrid, the schools taught the theory of elasticity 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.
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
Rugby union
Rugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
and skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
.
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 domeDome
A dome is a structural element of architecture that resembles the hollow upper half of a sphere. Dome structures made of various materials have a long architectural lineage extending into prehistory....
or shell like shape. This shape eliminates tensile
Tension (mechanics)
In physics, tension is the magnitude of the pulling force exerted by a string, cable, chain, or similar object on another object. It is the opposite of compression. As tension is the magnitude of a force, it is measured in newtons and is always measured parallel to the string on which it applies...
force
Force
In physics, a force is any influence that causes an object to undergo a change in speed, a change in direction, or a change in shape. In other words, a force is that which can cause an object with mass to change its velocity , i.e., to accelerate, or which can cause a flexible object to deform...
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. 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: 1950s
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 CortinesAdolfo Ruiz Cortines
Adolfo Ruiz Cortines was President of Mexico from 1952 to 1958, representing the Institutional Revolutionary Party he was one of the oldest presidents of Mexico...
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.
Casino de la Selva - Cuernavaca
A serious attack on the World Cultural Heritage has been made in CuernavacaCuernavaca
Cuernavaca is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. It was established at the archeological site of Gualupita I by the Olmec, "the mother culture" of Mesoamerica, approximately 3200 years ago...
in Mexico since 2002: 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
Gabriel García Márquez
Gabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
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 property of Manuel Suarez y Suarez who hire the 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 Wal-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
David Alfaro Siqueiros
José David Alfaro Siqueiros was a social realist painter, known for his large murals in fresco that helped establish the Mexican Mural Renaissance, together with works by Diego Rivera and José Clemente Orozco, and also a member of the Mexican Communist Party who participated in an...
, Orozco
José Clemente Orozco
José Clemente Orozco was a Mexican social realist painter, who specialized in bold murals that established the Mexican Mural Renaissance together with murals by Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros, and others...
, Rivera
Rivera
Rivera is the capital of Rivera Department of Uruguay. It is located at the north end of Route 5, on the border with Brazil. The Brazilian city of Santana do Livramento is right across the border, only a street away of it...
, 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.
Archive
Candela's drawings, correspondence, personal and professional papers, and writings are held in the permanent collection of the Department of Drawings & Archives in the Avery Architectural and Fine Arts LibraryAvery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
The Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library is one of twenty-five libraries in the Columbia University Library System and is located in Avery Hall on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University in the City of New York. It is the largest architecture library in the world...
at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
in New York City.
External links
- Palmira Chapel – Felix Candela in Frame and Form
- Félix Candela Costruttore di sogni, Fausto Giovannardi, Borgo San Lorenzo, 2006.
- ww.giovannardierontini.it/Pubblicazioni/Versioni%20Inglese/Felix_Candela_Builder_of_Dreams.pdf
- Bilder der Werke von Félix Candela at praella.com