In this first clip of a four-part conversation, Alexander Eisenschmidt discusses his monograph Felix Candela, From Mexico City to Chicago, published by Actar Publishers, uncovering the architect’s pioneering role in modern architecture. He highlights the elegant complexity of Candela’s thin-shell concrete structures—forms that defy scale, hierarchy, and expectation. Through techniques that turned straight timber into doubly curved surfaces, Candela democratized spatial experimentation and transformed the construction site into a space of research. Eisenschmidt reflects on Candela’s polymathic practice—oscillating between architect, engineer, and contractor—not for acclaim but to further an insatiable curiosity about form and material. This video also invites a critical reflection: what has contemporary architecture lost in its shift away from such hands-on, structural speculation?
