Félix Candela. In memorian (1910-1997). From thin concrete shells to the 21st century’s lightweight structures

This style of architecture is something that I have a strong interest in. I love Candela’s use of curves and reinforced concrete, almost creating a shell as a structure. This style of architecture is very pleasing to the eye. You find yourself flowing around the curves, taking in every aspect of the architecture. This piece of text talks about and celebrates the work of Candela. Overall, I think this is a fantastic article as for people that do not understand fully the work of Candela can truly begin to understand the fundamentals that went behind his though process. Curved architecture is also something I haven’t explored greatly within my work at university as generally it is quite complex, however it is definitely something I wish to look into now, especially after knowing a lot more about Candela after reading this piece of text.

Initially the text looks at the International Association of Structural Shells, founded in 1959, which is still and accredited association today. This style of architecture using the shell structure very something very elegant and pleasing to the eye, however structurally, very difficult to produce. It showed many links with Modern Architecture, relating to the work of Mies van der Rohe greatly with the approach of ‘less is more’. The concept of the shell meant that the space did not have to be filled to make it beautiful, it was about the decoration anymore, it was about the architecture itself being the beauty of the building.

The text goes on to speak about how model making was a predominant method in creating the shell structure. I felt like I could strongly relate this to my work as I use model making a lot of the time to get across ideas and concepts. On a previous project also, I used the idea of having an outer shell to create an inflatable space. It was interesting to compare this to the work of Candela. The work of Candela went through some changes over the years in order to make his structures applicable to building regulations at the time. I found it interesting to see how he had to adapt his work and how he managed to keep the same concepts throughout his designs. Over time, his designs became more slender following the work of a structural engineer, Eduardo Torroja, such as the Zarzuela Hippodrome.

After reading this text I can now truly appreciate how much time and thought must go into the shell structure concept and how there is so much technicality behind each design. It’s not just a matter of designing a building, but seeing if structurally it will stand up and meet building requirements. I would now like to use this style of architecture in my work more often, maybe experiment more with curves in the future.