Cuba Project

Yidi Yang

GSAPP Travel

Walking in the City One of my first impressions of Cuba is the humid hot weather, the preciousness of shade and breeze. When paying special attention to the shade, I find many interesting configurations of the shady spaces and how much they affect people’s pattern of life in Cuba. Therefore, I draw these sketches to demonstrate different types of shade, various in shape, the subjects that make it and the spacial quality around it. It is interesting to observe that the shade not only provides a more comfortable place for people to linger, but also facilitates social and commercial activities.

Belmont Freeman

2018 Cuba

Yidi Yang

GSAPP Travel

4. Outside the hotel our group stayed in, people are using the wifi from the hotel.

5. A photo taken just after a rain shower in Old Havana. The arcades shelter people in the rain and shade people in the sun.

6. A colonial style building on Paseo de Prado 7.The outdoor seats under the arcade in a restaurant are preferred by people 1

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1. Artists resting in the shade of a building in Old Havana 2. Temporar�- y book market in El Vedado, Havana 3. Paseo de Prado: An elegant boulevard in Old Havana, which is now a commercial street for tourists during weekends and a recreational space for the residents on weekdays.

Belmont Freeman

2018 Cuba

Yidi Yang

GSAPP Travel

Living in the Building Considering people’s living style, how architects create comfortable and sustainable indoor/outdoor space in a building becomes so important in this tropical climate. I am particularly fascinated by Cuban modern architecture. These two photos are the House of Guillermina De Soto Bonavia built in 1957 (left photo), and the Apartment Building of Evangelina Aristigueta De Vidana, built in 1956 (right). Designed by the same remarkable Cuban architect, Mario Romanach both projects utilize bare bricks for higher thermal mass and deliberately manipulate natural ventilation to increase the level of comfort. The windows are orientated vertically to maximize the airflow for both hot air on top and cooler air at the bottom.

The diagram and photos on the next page analyze Ciudad universitario Jose Antonio Echeverria (CUJAE), a campus built 1959-64 that has a totally different look and scale than these two residential projects, but also smartly deas with the climate in terms of the orientation, façade design, shading and ventilation methods.

Belmont Freeman

2018 Cuba

Yidi Yang

GSAPP Travel

Belmont Freeman

2018 Cuba

Yidi Yang

GSAPP Travel

Another building I particulary liked during my Cuba trip is this Apartment Building of Isabel and Olga Perez Farfate, designed by Frank Martinez in 1965. The gesture of connecting the forest on the side of the precipice to the street remains me of Mies van der Rohe’s work in Czech Republic, the Villa Tugendhat, where an opening through the building also connects the street to the beautiful nature on the other side of the building. I was very impressed by the cool breeze that goes through the outdoor living room, and the clear structure that works perfectly with nature.

Belmont Freeman

2018 Cuba

Yidi Yang

GSAPP Travel

It’s also easy to find the impacts of Caribbean tropical climate on the detail of Cuban architecture.

This page collects the most typical materials I saw in Cuba. A few very frequently used materials are stone, stucco, bare brick, terrazzo, and ceramic tiles.

Image A: The different sections show the different stucco paints through

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Fascinated by Details

B the course of the building’s history.

Image B: Many shells and sea snails were sealed in the local limestones.

Cutting them in tiles reveals the beautiful section of the sea creatures inside the material.

Image C: Unique paving blocks in Old Havana.

C Belmont Freeman

2018 Cuba

Yidi Yang

GSAPP Travel

The strong sun is a big factor in Cuba. To crate a comfortable space to live, architects invent all kinds of method to filter the light. Stained glass is a traditional detail in Cuban colonial architecture and is carried to modern architecture.

Belmont Freeman

2018 Cuba

Yidi Yang

GSAPP Travel

All kinds of screens play a significant role in filtering of sun light too. The triangular patterned screen made by ceramic brick becomes a continuous motif in Mario Romanach’s designs. Wooden screens and jalousies are very common too. In the National Art School of Cuba, the Oculus is articulated by brick structures, casting a beautiful shadow on the ground.

Belmont Freeman

2018 Cuba