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LIVING LEGENDS HONOREE Enrique H. Gutierrez: Architect of the Bacardi Building In 1960, Gutierrez fled in exile to Puerto Rico with his family, having left Cuba with the threat of execution and a reward for his arrest issued by the revolutionary regime. He continued his career and his relationship with Bacardi. Cuban-born Enrique H. Gutierrez graduated from the School of Architecture at the University of Havana in 1956, winning the Architecture Prize in 1957. He later joined the renowned architectural and engineering firm SAGMAG. One of SAGMAG's main clients was the celebrated rum firm, Bacardi. In 1958, Pepin Bosch, President of Bacardi, hired Mies van der Rohe to design the firm's offices in Santiago de Cuba. It was on this occasion that Gutierrez collaborated with the internationally recognized architect. The advent of the Cuban Revolution in 1959 interrupted Bacardi's Santiago de Cuba project. In progress at the time were the designs for Bacardi distilleries in Mexico and the Bahamas, wherein Gutierrez had the opportunity to collaborate once again with Mies and also with the distinguished Spanish architect and engineer Felix Candela. He also collaborated with eminent architect Richard Neutra, in the design of a Havana residential project. In 1959, Gutierrez became Director of Architecture in the Ministry of Public Works, wherein he created a Department of Fine Arts. Budget guidelines were established in which 2 to 3 percent of all governmental building costs were to be dedicated to integrating the visual arts with the architecture of said buildings, creating an art in public spaces program quite advanced for the time.
In 1962, he obtained the commission for the design of the Bacardi offices in Miami. The design of the building evidences Gutierrez's evolution as a cutting-edge architect, combining International Style vanguard elements with his own unique tropical sensibility, creating a superbly elegant structure that appears to be floating, suspended in space. The
building's huge ceramic murals by Brazilian artist Francisco Brennand, running the height of the building on both the north and south facades, is one of the best examples of Gutierrez's vision for integrating art and architecture, creating one of Miami's most celebrated architectural icons, a justly designated historic monument. For more than 50 years, in Cuba, Puerto Rico and Florida, and with more than 500 projects, Gutierrez has continually strived to integrate murals and monumental sculpture in all his designs. He has commissioned work from such notable artists as Cundo Bermudez, Augusto Marin, Rolando Lopez Dirube, Gay
Garcia and Zilia Sanchez, among others, enriching the community patrimony and leaving a legacy of landmark archi tecture. In 1972, Gutierrez completed the One Biscayne project in Miami, a towering structure that for the ensuing ten years was to be the tallest building in the southeastern United States. The building's Modernist architecture, exposed concrete belying a sophisticated design, included a highly advanced structural system. For the first time in Miami, a concrete mat was used- to replace the traditional piles, confmning Gutierrez's role as a pioneering generational figure. During the 1970s and 80's, Gutierrez developed a highly innovative, patented, modular prefabricated construction system, through which modular units were assembled at the factory level and transported directly to the development site. A total of 27 factories were opened throughout Argentina, Brazil, Jamaica, Florida, New Jersey, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Trinidad and Tobago, and Venezuela. Gutierrez continues today with his successful professional career, incorporating green technology concepts and progressive elements in his designs. He is also extensively designing and collaborating with state and municipal governments, in the development of low cost social housing projects throughout Puerto Rico. He remains committed in his endeavor to create a better world through architecture.
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