Candela, Felix(Félix Candela Outeriño) (fā`lēks kändā`lä), 1910–97, Mexican-American architect, b. Madrid. Candela studied in Madrid but was forced to flee Spain after his participation in the Spanish civil warSpanish civil war,
1936–39, conflict in which the conservative and traditionalist forces in Spain rose against and finally overthrew the second Spanish republic. The Second Republic
..... Click the link for more information. . He went to Mexico in 1939 and set up his own construction firm, gaining renown for his design of thin-shelled, reinforced concrete domes. Among his best-known works are the Cosmic Ray Pavilion (1950–51) for Mexico's University City; the Church of La Virgen Milagrosa (1953), Mexico City; and Los Manantiales restaurant (1958), Xochimilco. He also designed the Palacio de los Deportes [palace of sports], Mexico City, an indoor arena built for the 1968 Olympic Games, and L'Oceanogràfic, an aquarium near Valencia, Spain. Candela, who taught at the Univ. of Illinois, Chicago, from 1971 to 1978, became a U.S. citizen in 1978.
See study by C. Faber (1963).
Born Jan. 27, 1910, in Madrid. Mexican architect and engineer.
In 1935, Candela graduated from the Higher School of Architecture in Madrid. He participated in the Spanish Civil War of 1936–39 and emigrated to Mexico in 1939. Candela designed thin-shell reinforced-concrete roofs of various shapes, some of which are particularly unusual; for example, he developed thin-walled coverings in the form of hyperbolic paraboloids. His roof designs made possible the use of low-cost sheathing made out of straight boards. In collaboration with other architects, Candela constructed a number of industrial and commercial buildings, as well as several laboratories and churches. In 1954 he built the Church of the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal in Mexico, which is distinguished by its complex and irrational spatial structure.