edited by

Fausto Giovannardi

Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni

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Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni At the beginning of modern, steel Life Outerio Flix 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

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 Flix Candela (hereafter FC), who is remembered for his extraordinary roof of reinforced concrete shell, the shape of hyperbolic paraboloids. La obras mejor es la que sostiene por su forma.1 Eduardo Torroja

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.

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The best work is that it maintains for its shape.

In Youth FC was a good athlete and won 3

Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni 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 Flix Candela 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 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 Capitn de Ingenieros. The civil war 2was long and ended with the victory of the nationalists of Francisco Franco. After a long retreat through the2

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 then3

moved to Mexico City to work with Jess Mart, 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 Guamchil 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 the4

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

France recognized the Franco government, and then exiles became a problem.

The Rangel brothers were members for only 3 years. Felix assumed the presidency, while Antonio who was master builder, took care of yards and Julia administration. The company will operate until 1976, but will leave the Flix Candela in 1969.

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Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni architects brother Raul and Fernando Fernandez Rangel, who was also participate Antonio and Julia. In this endeavor Felix Candela was architect, engineer, consultant, computer, contractor and manufacturer. His first contract was a block of apartments with shops on the ground floor. The structural calculations and drawings executives were treated to the smallest details. The same client then entrusted the construction of Hotel Catedral in calle de Donceles (DF) on draft Nabor Carrillo, 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 structures using the simplest of those classics. A second trial, he was standing in the soil of the Fabric Fernndez. Issue once conoidale 15 x 6 meters, with a thickness of 3 cm, supported on the sides, two strings of different bolt, one of them very low, much to generate a6

fortuitous double curvature surface. In 1951 Candela achieves coverage that will give him international fame: the Pabelln de rayos Csmicos. A small pavilion 12 x 10.75 meters, designed by Jorge Gonzlez Reyna and build within the university campus, to host a workshop. Specialist for measuring neutrons. The request was that of the coverage had a thickness not exceeding 1.5 cm. Candela propose to use a double curvature instead of the cylindrical coverage

provided in the draft Gonzlez Reyna, arguing that this gave the geometric stiffness needed to allow the execution of a cover thickness. This was the first example in which Candela used a solution of parabolide hyperbolic (or Hypar7), a geometric shape that had7

National Autonomous University of Mexico.

The structures in the shape of hyperbolic paraboloids (Hypar with the abbreviation USA) in architecture have been realized 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 fcil 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 Diseo 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 Pabelln de rayos Csmicos, 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

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 Barragn. Candela used shells, as interp, but the experience is not found10

F. Amond Etude statique des voiles minces en paraboloidee hyperbolique travaillant sans flexion Zurich,1936 9 por fin, al cumplir los quaranta anos, descubr asombrado que mi desordenata y casual formacin pareca haber sido misteriosamente dirigida en un determinado sentito que me permitia encontrarme preparado para la labor que tena que ejecutar F. Candela: En defensa del formalismo y otros escrittos , Xairat Ediciones, Bilbao 1985 , p.9

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 Vzquez and Rafael Mijares. The Restaurant at Los Manantiales Xochimilco, in 1958, with Joaquin A'lvarez Ordoez 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 1963 with the Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Madrid, 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 Flix 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 costeffectiveness 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 the12

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 Flix 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 8

Giral, A. la arquitectura de Flix Candela in AA.VV.El desierro espanol en America. Madrid Min. Cultura. 13 Tabla de obras de Cubiertas Ala, Germenon Salum da Juan Tonda Magalln Ediciones Corunda 2000 Mexico DF

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 Castaeda 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 9 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

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, Flix 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 Flix Candela: 1940 Hotel e appartamenti ad Acapulco, in collaborazione con Bringas. 1950-1951 Pabelln de los Rayos Csmicos, Citt del Messico. 1953-1957 Iglesia de la Medalla de la Virgen Milagrosa, Navarte. 1954-1955 Fbrica Celestino Fernndez, Colonia Vallejo. 1954-1955 Bolsa de Valores, Citt del Messico. 1955 Capilla de Nuestra Seora de la Soledad, Coyoacn. 1955-1956 Quiosco de Msica, 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 Baslica de Guadalupe, Citt del Messico. 1958-1959 Iglesia de San Jos Obrero, Monterrey. 1959 Capilla de San Vicente Paul, Coyoacn. 1959-1960 Capilla de Santa Mnica, San Lorenzo di Xochimancas. 1959-1960 Planta embotelladora ditta Bacard, Cuautitln. 1962-1963 Iglesia Nuestra Seora de Guadalupe, Madrid, Spagna. 1965-1968 Palacio de Deportes per la XIX Olimpiade Citt del Messico. 1966 Parroquia del Seor del Campo Florido, Citt del Messico. 1994-2002 L'Oceanogrfic, 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 from Roofing read in concrete form of armed with umbrellas spigolosi (edges) or sinuous mantle, that Felix Candela built in the fifties and sixties, made it a symbol of The first shell (cascarones14) that has built Candela, was once a14

the

structural structures,

laminaria generated paraboloids

concrete

hyperbolic

(Hypar), a geometric shape of extraordinary effectiveness, which in a draft version, has become the hallmark of its architecture.

Mexican twentieth century. As Frei Otto said: "Candela only managed

Literally: Shell egg.

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Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni funicular trial in the summer of 1949. For its construction followed the example of some prototypes built in England during the Second World War. It seems that the inventor of the time was Kurt Billing, and the system used to be called "Ctesiphon", the name of an old arcade building in Syria. The success achieved with this experiment encourages Candela to consider the possibility of devoting themselves Indispensabie to building was shells. proposing which breaks away supported by a small The of support commitment Materials to with V. which him to

Candela had studied the Strength allowed understand how illusory are the socalled analysis accurate: "When I started to build shells, my mind was making from school. As students we believe in everything that we is taught, for example, that there are methods to calculate the exact structures. I started working to stop believing in everything that I believed. But this is a necessary, if one wants to build something original designed with " Jorge Gonzales The Pabelln de rayos Csmicos Reyna, for the city university of Mexico City, with its undulating concrete cover thickness of only 15 mm, which allows measurement from the neutron, is one of the most emblematic buildings of his work. With its shape, almost a spaceship about brings to land, was fame. the first structure acclaimed by all and that From 1951 to 1953, his work was an impressive variety. These two years were essential to understand, almost intuitively how the shells. Focused on the most simple, 12

something different in order to survive in the highly competitive field of construction in Mexico. At about the same Candela, said: "despite the Mexican tradition of building curved shapes and bold, concrete vaults were to look with suspicion. We thought they were unsafe, conditions earthquakes" Coverage for a coach was the second adventure of Candela with hypars. The shape is very similar to the time of the Pavilion de rayos Cosmicos But here were omitted arcs irrigidenti. One of the edges supports the rocky soil and the other is supported by a wall of concrete, the sides of the shell because and of subsoil frequent

Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni guided by two principles that are essential in these structures: the static and geometry. Built short times, cones, of prismatic fan, and corrugated sheets, domes, In the The by and to cover the Auditorium of the Faculty of Chemical Sciences of the University of Mexico City, which is formed by two

almost the entire range forms known. had Residence Candela Sinusoidal15. at Romero, truncated cones, joined a long common border. The light cone rising from 9 to 18 meters. The media were inclined an added feature, compared to the original plan to improve its appearance. Candela such comments, "I thought to avoid the problems of calculation on the rods and cones as giving form of line." This is the only building in which Candela has worked with cones, and is also one of and the not few as instances where he worked as a consultant supervisor. In 1953, he built an elliptical dome to cover with hall a roof of the residence dance Gallego only

opportunity to do a cover sheet toL'inspirazione

inspiration came from a photograph Copenhagen, designed Vilhelm Lauritzen. The structure was so obvious that Candela was "trying to do something similar." Candela built two more of these structures. Methods of prefabricated steel were used for Escuola Montes Alpes and for a seminar. The first is a two-story structure with light of 8 meters and sudden changes of 2.5 mt from both sides. The second has four floors, and in the original intentions were to be six. Probably this was the first time that shells were used as interpiani. But there were a good solution and Candela came to be seen as a "search path without hope."15

Center. The dome is relatively low and based on existing walls, but since the plant's dome does not correspond to the walls, his weight is transferred to them through a complicated system of rays 13

1952

is

working

with

Guillermo Enrique Yanez RoselThe covers that folded prism or the Germans call "Faltwerke" and the French "toits plisss" follow the principle of resistance through the corrugated

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. Soon this solution consists of a large number of variants, such as plant forms rib with and triangular curve or hexagonal. The use of a diagonal allowed to increase the size blankets. Advancing in this kind of evolution dell'hypar, very soon discovered they 14 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." 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

Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni were the main dishes and asymmetric and with different

horizontal cuts that are hyperbole from which it takes its name pompous this surface almost magical. Uniting them for their curved edges, is formed when two similar at the intersection cylindrical cruising aisles of the ancient churches, often built with masonry brick or stone. The

curvature to allow the passage of light through this became suitable for building churches and other buildings Church Medalla of with the more Virgen milagro. aesthetic de la needs. So it came to designing the

This church, built from 1953, is an extraordinary building. The powerful structure is a fearless combination of deformed surfaces, which create an impressive interior space. As it seems chaotic, there is the play of natural forms of Gaudi and Picasso cubist experiments. Based shells on the pattern of 4 of cm a in

difference now is that instead of intersection of cylinders, it has un'intersecazione of iperboloidi and instead of masonry, reinforced concrete, two important features of modernity. Subsequently, many works were performed with the base of a paraboloid with only the edges limited by arches and many other combinations were sought from the edge rectum combined with that bent. With this last combination was very spectacular the Church of Santa Mnica, Lpez designed Carmona by and Fernando

traditional plant with three naves, at coverage thickness, in this work reaches its highest expression plastic. Candela achieves gothic a spectacular and innovative structure that recalls the cathedrals, expressed through the structure a sense of ascension. The main front is a large triangle, while the front side is shaped zigzagante generated by the extremes of the four triangular side chapels. In fact, the structure of this church is the result of successive paraguas, with whom he played Candela, a modified form 15

enforced by cubiertas Ala. In its plant with a fan, ten branches of paraboloid with a clearance of 30 m that have joined the center in one sturdy column, which gives the impression of being a big palm. Then umbrellas became

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 no communication between support 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 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, and the question of whether the public liked, said, "especially for women architects like ,..., not. "16

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 get 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) unexpected revealed push towards an the

Candela in 1955, built by Enrique de la Mora and Fernando Carmona Lpez 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, corners supported which in the the four first was

example of an object with the draft. This is a particular feature which has qualified the work of Candela: the16

upper edges of the roof. The comments on this project led to Candela wrote: "Sometimes the imposing cathedrals stone and of the Gothic Renaissance

development

of

the

draft.

Ramirez Dampierre in Arquitectura n.30 giugno 1961 Madrid.

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Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni Candela says have come almost by intuition: "I knew that the draft was a practice, long before we intellectually understand how it worked," and also describes how to 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 to Xochimilco, built between 1957 and 1958, the architect for the project Joaqun lvarez Ordez, where sometimes polygonal came at 25 and 30 meters in diameter.

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 18

Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni Architects, FC was impressed by the project of the "itinerant theater," by a young Spanish student Emilio Perez Piero (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 Piero, a young genius of the structures, ended his earthly extraordinary adventure, in an accident with his Ferrari, a Dali, and visited some sites. . which One was recent work (1967) Candela

designed

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 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..

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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 Flix 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, because18

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 enterpriseLook note 17

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Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni Cubiertas Ala began its inexorable decline. Architect or engineer Many architects say that Flix 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 Flix 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. Flix 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 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 Flix 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'Universit di Harvard Cambridge/Massachusetts 1981 Gold Medal of the architectural 1985 Award Antonio Camuas of architecture. architecture. Candela has 22

Felix Candela Costruttore di sogni Technical and theoretical writings Hacia una nueva filosofia de la estructuras,Congresso Scientifico Mexico 1951 Formulas generales para el calculo de esfuerzos en paraboloides hiperbolicos. ACI 1960 En defensa del formalismo y otros escrittos , Xairat Ediciones, Bilbao 1985 Stress Analysis for any Hyperbolic Paraboloids Architectural Record (1958) Bibliografa: Faber, Colin, "Las estructuras de Candela" , Mxico, Continental , 1970 Juan Ignacio del Cueto Ruiz Funes, Flix Candela, el mago de los cascarones de concreto, in Arquine, rivista internacional de arquitectura, Mexico, n.2, 1997 Josemara de Churtichaga La estructura veloz Trayectorias estructurale a proposito de la obra de Emilio Perez Pinero y Flix Candela. http://chqs.onexp.com/estudio.htm Enrique Chao, Flix Candela: una lux nel corazon in Construccin y Tecnologa Mexicano Juan 2000 Lorraine Lin, Flix Candela: Creator de poetic structures 19101997, in Structure Magazine, aprile 2006. Juan de Herrera Flix Candela, arquitecto. Edicin de M. Segu, Madrid; CEHOPU / 1994. rivista del dellInstituto y del Cemento Magalln

Concreto, Mexico, dicembre 2003. Tonda "Flix mexico Candela CONACULTA,

"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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