On his birthday, let’s remember brilliant Mexican-Spanish architect/engineer Félix Candela who was born 108 years ago today. His contribution to the story of modern architecture was the thin structural and organic forms, which he developed using reinforced-concrete, which have brought him into the international spotlight during the 60s. His famed Los Manantiales restaurant in the Xochimilco area of Mexico City (above and below via www.rkett.com) has long entered the pantheon of modern architecture and his other buildigns from the 60s and 70s are no less compelling. A graduate from the Madrid Superior Technical School of Architecture in 1935, Candela emigrated to Mexico during the Spanish Civil War, where he established his office and practiced architecture for four decades. After completing his Palacio de los Deportes for the 1968 Summer Olympic Games, he settled in the United States, where he practiced architecture along with teaching at the University of Illinois.
Los Manantiales restaurant in the Xochimilco area of Mexico City
Los Manantiales restaurant in the Xochimilco area of Mexico City
Bacardi Visitor Pavilion, San Juan, Puerto Rico, 1960
Iglesia de la Medalla Milagrosa, Mexico City, 1955
Palmira Chapel in Cuernavaca Mexico, 1959
Palmira Chapel in Cuernavaca Mexico, during construction, 1959