![]() The virtual reconstruction of the project has been developed using a procedural non-destructive 3D model. ![]() ![]() This is not the first project where Candela used this type of variation, however, by modifying the direction of the generators and increasing the height of the hypars, it was possible to improve the curvature of the structure and reduce the deflections that appeared in previous constructions. A parabolic discontinuity is introduced in each fragment of the surfaces, resulting in a structure formed by eight different hypars. The project presents a variation of the traditional hyperbolic-paraboloid (hypar) umbrellas widely used by Candela in Mexico during the 50s and 60s. With 9-meter cantilevers supported by a single column and a height of more than 35 meters, the inverted umbrellas designed for the Cathedral would have been the tallest ever built by Candela using this structural system. Recently, formal influences of his innovations can be found in works by Zaha Hadid’s Heydar Aliyev Ali (Azerbaijan, 2013), FOA’s Yokohama Terminal (Japan, 2002), and UNstudio’s Burnham Pavilion (Chicago, 2009).įélix Candela's Concrete Shells: An Engineered Architecture for México and Chicago is a collaboration between the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) and the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM).ĭownload the information related to this event here.The paper presents the virtual reconstruction and analysis of the project for the Cathedral of Villahermosa in Tabasco (Mexico), designed by Félix Candela in 1960 in collaboration with Jorge Creel and Juan José Díaz. In Chicago’s built environment, parallels to Candela’s work can be seen in the experiments with concrete architecture of the 1960s, including Walter Netsch’s UIC Campus and Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City. Famous Candela structures include the Pavilion of Cosmic Rays at UNAM, Mexico City (1951) the Chapel Lomas de Cuernavaca, Cuernavaca (1958) Los Manantiales Restaurant, Xochimilco (1958) and the Palace of Sports for the 1968 Olympic Games in Mexico City. These curved and cantilevered forms were not only structural advancements but also brought new textural and atmospheric qualities to the social and communal spaces they shelter. His designs evolved as feats of architectural engineering, using hyperbolic paraboloid geometry to create numerous reinforced concrete shells. In the 1950s, ten years into his practice in Mexico, Candela debuted his experimental signature shell structures by designing a continuous curved surface of minimal thickness. ![]() The exhibition spotlights Félix Candela’s Concrete Shells through photographs, architectural models, and plans, as well as archival material from his time as a professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 1971 to 1978.Ĭandela exiled to Mexico at the end of the Spanish Civil War in 1939, where he lived for thirty years and established his career as an architect. It originated through the research of scholar Juan Ignacio del Cueto and is curated by the architectural theorist and designer Alexander Eisenschmidt. This exhibition roots Félix Candela (1910-1997) as one of the most prolific architects of the 20th century in his advanced geometric designs and lasting influence in contemporary architecture.
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