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summer workshops

Modern Architecture in Havana

Jun 7, 2023 – Jun 17, 2023

Havana, Cuba

Belmont Freeman

View from FOCSA Building. Photo by Belmont Freeman.

Aerial view with a high-dense arrangement of large complexes in front of a waterfront with blue water and sky beyond.

Torres Giron, Antonio Quintana, 1967. Photo by Belmont Freeman.

Tall 17-story concrete building in front of a road with four passing cards and a blue sky with clouds beyond.

Las Ruinas, Joaquin Galvan, 1969-72. Photo by Belmont Freeman.

White structure of gridded columns among green trees

School of Modern Dance, Ricardo Porro, 1959-64. Photo by Belmont Freeman.

White structure with red brick curving canopies. Dance students are walking through the outdoor passageway and sitting on a bench.

Casa de los Cosmonautas, Antonio Quintana, 1975. Photo by Belmont Freeman.

White cantilevering structure with deep balconies and a red tile roof, with palm trees in the front.

Perez Farfante Residence, Frank Martinez, 1955. Photo by Belmont Freeman.

Soto Bonavia Residence, Mario Romañach, 1957. Photo by Belmont Freeman.

Research Question

The island of Cuba has a rich tradition of high-quality architecture unbroken from its Spanish colonial settlement through the country’s 20th-century republican era and subsequent socialist revolution. Cuba, with its prosperous ports, open immigration policies, and cosmopolitan society, absorbed architectural influences from Europe and North America and reinterpreted them for the tropical environment and local culture. The rise of international modernism coincided with a period of great prosperity in Cuba, stimulating a surge of extraordinary creativity by Cuban architects. The revolution of 1958 transformed all aspects of Cuban life and, in the 1960s, redirected architectural production into a phase of radical innovation in service of the new socialist society. Experimentation with new building materials was a hallmark of Cuban modern architecture, both before and after the revolution. Today, Havana is a repository of extraordinary modern buildings from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s, but fifty years of poor maintenance and the predations of the tropical maritime climate have left Havana’s modernist legacy in peril; and while the Cuban government has an admirable record of historic preservation in the colonial core of Havana, mid-20th century buildings in other parts of the city have been neglected. What policies and technologies might best be deployed to save Havana’s modern architecture?

Methodology and Process

This workshop proposes to introduce students to the architectural history of Havana, survey the landscape of building conservation in the city, and study the special challenges of the conservation of modern building materials in the tropics. After two evenings of lectures in New York, the group will travel to Havana for one week, where we will tour the city and meet with local architects, historians, and conservationists, with in-depth visits to a selection of case study sites.

Output and Findings

Students will produce a group report with graphic, photographic, and written content to document the work and findings of the workshop.

Other 2023 workshops

Strategies for Implementing Large Scale Public Projects	Shachi Pandey	Across New York City	Aug 11, 2023 – Aug 25, 2023
Honolulu, HI Frequency: Urban mobility patterns across time, space, and scale	Kaz Sakamoto	Honolulu, Hawaii	Aug 10, 2023 – Aug 18, 2023
Peri-urban Water Management in Gujarat	Sandro Marpillero, Sonal Beri	Ahmedabad, India	Jul 17, 2023 – Aug 5, 2023
On Circulations And The African Imagination Of A Borderless World	Mabel O. Wilson, Mario Gooden, Emanuel Admassu	Dar es Salaam, Tanzania	Jun 20, 2023 – Jul 3, 2023
Real Estate Finance: Incentivising Capital to Create Better Outcomes in the Built Environment	Chris Munsell	Across New York City	Jun 5, 2023 – Jun 16, 2023
Un-archiving LA	Felicity Scott, Mark Wasiuta	Los Angeles, California	Jun 5, 2023 – Jun 15, 2023
An Atlas of Dust	Jorge Otero-Pailos	Across New York City	May 22, 2023 – Jun 9, 2023