Finite-Element Analysis of Felix Candela’s Chapel of Lomas de Cuernavaca
Publication: Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 14, Issue 2
Abstract
The structures of Felix Candela stand as elegant examples of the art of thin shell concrete structural design. However, few thin shell structures are built today and many of the most enduring structures, such as those of Candela, have not been analyzed. This project performed a finite-element analysis of Candela’s Cuernavaca Chapel in order to better understand its structural efficiency and gain insight into its design. Analysis results show that Candela’s striking structure has very low stresses resulting from its own self-weight.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The writers gratefully acknowledge Mrs. Dorothy Candela’s donation of photographs of Felix Candela’s works to the Princeton Maillart Archives. Some of those photographs were included as figures in this paper.
References
Candela, F. (1958). “Understanding the hyperbolic paraboloid.” Architectural Record, 123(7), 191–195.
Computers and Structures, Inc. (2004). CSI analysis reference manual for SAP2000, Berkeley, Calif.
Draper, P. (2006). “Felix Candela and the chapel of Lomas de Cuernavaca.” Master of Science in Engineering thesis, Princeton Univ., Princeton, N.J.
Meyer, C., and Sheer, M. H. (2005). “Do concrete shells deserve another look?” Concr. Int., 27(10), 43–50.
Otero, A. B. (2001). “Félix Candela y el borde libre.” Bitacora Arquitectura, 5, 38–47, 71.
Robert McNeel & Associates. (1993). Rhinoceros user’s guide, Seattle.
Saliklis, E. P., Billington, D. P., and Carmalt, A. W. (2007). “Tedesko’s Philadelphia skating club: Refinement of an idea.” J. Archit. Eng., 13(2), 72–77.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Architectural Engineering
Volume 14 • Issue 2 • June 2008
Pages: 47 - 52
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 2, 2007
Accepted: Aug 17, 2007
Published online: Jun 1, 2008
Published in print: Jun 2008
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.