Candela Isler Müther

The Masters of Concrete Shells

Concrete shell construction started to become popular in the mid-20th century. Technically advanced designs with conspicuous expressiveness began to appear all over the world. With three typical protagonists – Félix Candela (1910–1997), Heinz Isler (1926–2009), and Ulrich Müther (1934–2007) – the book examines this construction method. Their work – primarily in Mexico, Switzerland, and the former GDR – was carried out under very different political, economic, social, and cultural conditions.

The authors analyze the buildings and projects against the background of developments in architecture and engineering at that time. The focus is on mutual influence, shared aspects and differences in the design processes, the structural design, and the execution. In addition, the book examines how the work was received and today’s application of the building method.

• Learning from Félix Candela, Heinz Isler, and Ulrich Müther and their historic shell construction buildings
• Unknown material from the drawing archives
• In English with summaries in German and Spanish

Matthias Beckh, Juan Ignacio del Cueto Ruiz-Funes, Matthias Ludwig, Andreas Schätzke, Rainer Schützeichel

„Das Buch leistet in seiner Ausführlichkeit einen bedeutenden Beitrag zur Untersuchung der Werke von Candela, Isler und Müther – die in fachlichem Austausch miteinander standen und sich gegenseitig konstruktiv beeinflussten, auch über die Grenzen politischer Systeme hinweg.“ (Mariam Gegidze in BauNetz, 02.2021)

„In dieser Vielschichtigkeit ist das Buch ein Abbild vieler der gezeigten Bauten: eineharmonische Konstruktion, ja, eine runde Sache.“ (David Kasparek in derarchitekt, 03.2021, http://derarchitektbda.de/5541-2/)