Biography
Felix Candela was born in Madrid in 1910. He entered Madrid's Escuela Superior de Arquitrectura in 1927 and graduated in 1935. Sidetracked by his political struggle against Franco, he did not practice architecture until he emigrated to Mexico in 1939. Candela believed that strength should come from form not mass. This belief led to an extensive exploration of tensile shell structures. His nickname became "The Shell Builder" because of this structural favoritism. Frequently forced to act as architect, structural engineer and contractor in order to further his work, Candella sees
architects as engineers who possess the ability to design both great cathedrals and low cost housing.

Dennis Sharp. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Architects and Architecture. New York: Quatro Publishing, 1991.
ISBN 0-8230-2539-X. NA40.I45. p35.

Building
Los Manantiales

Architect
Felix Candela
Location
Xochimilco, Mexico
Date
1958

Notes
Thin shell undulates in radial plan for omnidirectional outlooks.

Discussion
"It may be said there are two basic criteria for a proper shell:

"The shell must be stable and of a shape which permits an easy way to work. It should be as symmetrical as
possible because this simplifies its behaviour. Either interior groins (as in the restaurant in Xochimilco) or
exterior edges should be able to send loads to points of support, or else there should be a continuous support
along certain edges....

"A comparatively rapid, simple method must be found to calculate the membrane stresses. At the moment this
seems possible only with the hypar shell, if by 'simple' one infers a procedure which mathematics, or
specifically, in every case having to solve a system of differential equations to comply with previously
selected boundary conditions."

-Felix Candela. from Colin Faber. Candela/The Shell Builder. p199.

Sources on Los Manantiales

Werner Blaser and Monica Stucky. Drawings of Great Buildings. Boston: Birkhauser Verlag, 1983. ISBN
3-7643-1522-9. LC 83-15831. NA2706.U6D72 1983. plan and section drawings, p160.

Colin Faber. Candela: The Shell Builder. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation, 1963. LC 62-14294.
NA759.C3F23 1963. discussion, p199.

Dennis Sharp. Twentieth Century Architecture: a Visual History. New York: Facts on File, 1990. ISBN
0-8160-2438-3. NA680.S517. exterior photo, fG, p9.

FELIX CANDELA
1910-1997

Candela was one of the great form-makers of the century. Trained as an architect in Madrid, he emigrated to Mexico at the time of the Civil War. There he formed a company that specialized in the design and construction of thin concrete shells. The construction workers were trained by Candela himself. Concrete shells depend on their configuration, not on their mass, for stability. For this reason shells can be said to be the ultimate concrete form. All of Candela's designs are derived from a beautiful geometric surface, called hyperbolic paraboloid, which is indeformable. Generated from straight lines, which make the construction of the wooden forms easy, the result consists of elegantly curved forms that can be quite sensuous.

After a period of enthusiastic imitations in the sixties, shells have suffered an almost total eclipse in the United States. It is in another part of the world that a younger artist showed that shells are still wanted, and still economically viable in our time. Heinz Isler, a structural engineer by training, has designed over 1000 shells in the last 20 years, most of them erected in Switzerland. Candela was the undisputed master in his field, and it is difficult to believe that his shells could be surpassed in elegance. But Isler's shells are even better. His approach to design is totally different. Instead of generating forms from geometry, he obtains them from physical experiments: He designs shells with physical models hanging upside down, and gravity determines their form. Isler's shells never crack, and they require no waterproofing. Their shapes are graceful and apparently weightless.

A doctor honoris causa from E.T.H., Professor Isler is an excellent public speaker with a perfect command of English. Perhaps
we will be fortunate in having him lecture in our school and demonstrate his design process in the near future. The architectural potential of shells is far from being exhausted. Studies have shown that they may even have a promising future in multistory buildings.

Notes by J. François Gabriel, International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures.

Selected Bibliography
The following items can be found using SUMMIT, the Syracuse University Library's electronic catalog.

Banham, Reyner. "Concrete: Simplified Vaulting Practices." Architectural Review. 1953 September, v.114, n.681, p. 199-202.
NA1.A69

Candela, Felix. "Reinforced Concrete Shells." Student Publication of the School of Design. 1960, v.9, n.2, p. 27-46.
N11.N68 v.9 no.2

Candela, Felix. "The Shell as a Space Encloser." Arts and Architecture. 1955 January, v.72, n.1, p.12-15, 32-35.
NA1.A85

Candela, Felix. "Shell Structure Development." Canadian Architect. 1967 January, v.12, n.1, p.33-40.
NA1.C29 v.12 Ja./Je. 1967

Faber, Colin. Candela: The Shell Builder. The Architectural Press: London, 1963.
NA759.C3 F23 1963

"Obituary: Felix Candela." Architects' Journal. 1998 Jan.1-8, v.207, n.1, p.9.
NA1.A55

"Recent Work of Mexico's Felix Candela." Progressive Architecture. 1959 February, v.40, n.2, p.132-141.
NA1.P7

"Wizard of the Shells." Architectural Forum. 1959 November, v.111. n.5, p.154-159.
NA1.A673

This page was created by the Syracuse University Library Fine Arts Department.
Web page layout and design by Vanessa Welser.
Images scanned by Susan Miller.

 

Felix Candela: Selective Bibliography

Prepared March 12, 1997 by Ann M. Lally

Books about Felix Candela

Faber, Colin. Las Estructuras de Candela Mexico, D.F. : Continental, 1970.

Felix Candela Tokyo : TOTO Shuppan, c1995.

Smith, Clive Bamford. Builders in the Sun. NY: Architectural Press, 1967.

Articles by Felix Candela: organized alphabetically by journal title.

"A New Way to Span Space." Architectural Forum November 1955: 170-77.

"Understanding the Hyperbolic Paraboloids." Architectural Record July 1958: 191-195.

"The Shell as Space Encloser." Arts and Architecture January 1955: 12-15+.

"Simple Concrete Shell Structures." Journal of the American Concrete Institute December 1951.

"Skew Shell Utilized in Unusual Roof." Journal of the American Concrete Institute May 1953.

"Structural Applications of Hyperbolic Paraboloidical Shells." Journal of the American Concrete Institute January 1955.

"Stereo Structures." Progressive Architecture June 1954: 84-95.

Articles about the work of Felix Candela: organized alphabetically by journal title.

"Four Great Pours." Architectural Forum September 1961: 104-115.

"Shell Concrete Today." Architectural Forum August 1954: 157

"Wizard of the Shells." Architectural Forum November 1959: 154-59.

Banham, Reyner. "Simplified Vaulting Practices." Architectural Review September 1953: 199-202.

Boyd, Robin. "Engineering of Excitement." Architectural Review November 1958: 295-308.

Faber, Colin. "Felix Candela as a Contemporary." Arts and Architecture May 1956: 20-24.

McCoy, Esther. "The New University City of Mexico - The Pavilion of Cosmic Rays of the Institute of Nuclear Physics." Arts and Architecture August 1952: 20+

_____. "The New University City of Mexico." Arts and Architecture September 1953: 15-17+.

Creighton, Thomas H. "The New Sensualism II." Progressive Architecture October 1959: 180-87.

"Doubly-curved, Thin-Shell Concrete Slab Chapel." Progressive Architecture October 1956: 139-45.

"Lederle Laboratories, Mexico D.F." Progressive Architecture September 1957: 143-49.

"Recent Work of Mexico's Felix Candela." Progressive Architecture February 1959: 132-141.

"The Work of Felix Candela." Progressive Architecture July 1955: 106-15.

"Candela: Recent Works." Zodiac 22 (October 1973): 70-87.

 

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