A brilliant architect, engineer and mathematician, Candela is often called a structural artist, and made a significant contribution to modernist architecture through his work developing thin shells made from reinforced concrete, breaking away from traditional forms such as the cylinder and pioneering the use of the hyperbolic paraboloid.

These inverted umbrella-shaped forms – also known as hypars – became Candela’s trademark and were used to roof numerous well-known religious buildings and a vast number of industrial buildings during the Mexican industrialisation era.

The John Lewis warehouse was originally designed in 1963 and was Candela’s only UK building to use this innovative roof structure, leading to the building being Grade 2 listed in 1995.

The main design feature of the project saw the original loading bay along the eastern edge of the building removed as well as the internal wall which was set right back to create a new covered car park and exposing the elegant internal hypars to the public for the first time in more than half a century.

Read RIBA Journal's review of the building here https://bit.ly/2Qiq2PJ