Candela, Felix (Félix Candela Outeriño) [key], 1910–97, Mexican-American architect, b. Madrid. Candela studied in Madrid but was forced to flee Spain after his participation in the Spanish civil war. 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).
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