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LONG STUDIO - CUBA

C2 STUDIO - CD 102 Long StudioInstructors: John Pilling and Luis Montalvo

SPRING 2012

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LONG STUDIO

PRECONCEPTIONS

My preconceptions of Cuba had been a series of contradictions.

The strongest references I had of the country come from my Father’s in-volvement in The Cuban Missile Crisis. He never spoke much about it but growing up, however when I spoke of his military work I always made ref-erence of that event and for many years that had been my reference of Cuba.

I knew of the restriction we had on the importation of their products and goods, such as their cigars, and related their restriction to the post mili-tary involvement we had with them.

Later in life as I became more interested in music and different cultures I became aware of the musically infused tropical paradise that the Cuban culture had to offer.

I gained a good understanding of the pride the Cubans have, but coun-tered that with the massive exposure the Cuban’s have here in the United States of their attempts to leave Cuba at whatever cost. Paradise and Natural Goods vs. Military Conflict

Restrictive Authority vs. Community Protesting Pride vs. Escape

PRE- TRIP

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IMPRESSIONS FROM CUBA

Scale Model of Havana, The Harbor, Casa Blanca and Regula

“Aprender del pasado para diseñar el futuro” “Learn from the Past to Design for the Future”

Sketch of City Model

Sketch of the Hotel Exterior at arrival

Cacharro - Old JalopyMusic and food sets the theme. Everything shared!

My trip to Cuba was an experience that I will never forget. I believe traveling to other parts of the world and experiencing how people live differently broadens my architectural approach when designing public spaces. It is would have been such a different project and process of design had I not had the opportunity to fully understand how things like culture, climate, governing forces, resources the context of the existing area could affect the concepts that drive the overall design.

TRAVEL CUBA

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Scale of the Structures

The linear height of the ground floor of most the building in Old Havana is grand. The entry doors on the public and residential buildings are twice, maybe three times as tall as the typical 6’-8” entry doors here in the United States.

The grandeur of the mere presence of the structure has the power to humble even the tallest members of our group.

The old Spanish style architecture, although in disrepair and literally crumbling down stood tall. Stood strong and appeared solid. The city was aged like a strong old man who was not ready to give up, or may never be ready to give up. It sat and served its people, generation after generation.

The cracks were the wrinkles and the worn stained surfaces of the old concrete were like the distin-guished gray hairs on top a full head of hair.

Age of the Structures

ARCHITECTURE OF CUBA

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“Cuba is a melting pot, Architecture is the Result”

ARCHITECTURE OF CUBA

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The old abandon structures of the old Schools of Art were among to most breath taking structures I had even had the pleasure of experiencing. The forms were massive yet felt light and weight-less. The spaces provoked me to explore every nook and cranny. The gesture were anything but subtle.

The felt free and fun. It spoke to me as being a place of freedom, of free expres-sion through artistic endeavours. The open curvilinear forms had a soft natural sense about them, the condition of ware that the structures were in made them feel as if they were part of the earth.

Organic Catalan-vaulted brick and terra-cotta structures

“I am happier being an Artist”

THE SCHOOLS OF THE ARTS

Isa - Superior Institute of Art

ARCHITECTURE OF CUBA

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Ena - National School of Art

Considered by historians to be one of the most outstanding architectural achievements of the Cuban Revolution

The schools were conceived and founded by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara in 1961, and they reflect the utopian optimism and revolutionary exuber-ance of the early years of the Cuban Revolution.

They wanted a place where Cuban could go to openly and freely produce beautiful works of art, music, and dance that the country of Cuba could be proud of. The buildings were to serve as incu-bators for Cuba’s artists, musicians, actors and dancers.

The design of the National Art Schools, created by Ricardo Porro, Roberto Gottardi, and Vittorio Garatti, ran counter to the dominant Internation-al Style of the time. The three architects saw the International Style as the architecture of capital-ism and sought to recreate a new architecture in the image of the Cuban Revolution.

Ena - National School of Art

ARCHITECTURE OF CUBA

LONG STUDIO

Amongst the heavy structures of old concrete building all over Havana, lies thin strips of light.

Sometime they are found in tall narrow hall ways in the massive buildings, or present in the more sculptural ar-chitecture of the School of Arts or Maritime Country Club. Often it is found broken by the series of columns of the cov-ered arcades and dances across the covered walk way with the passing of the day.

The dull surfaces of the old building are illuminates with these slivers of light that help to bring the old materials to life with its ever changing patterns that sweep across the surfaces.

Some of the studies I had done in my Lighting and Acous-tics class had help to influence this study.

Light

ARCHITECTURE OF CUBA

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Covered Arcades

As eclectic as the tapestry of the buildings in Old Havana are, there is a sense of unification that allows them to all read cohesively. Part of this is due to the presence of the cover arcades that run along the front of all the buildings.

They serve as covered walkways or sometimes as covered dining and seating areas.

ARCHITECTURE OF CUBA

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Paseo de Marti Capitolio - Gran Teatro_Hotel InglaterraFrom a walk through neighborhood [railroad] to Capitolio

The large buildings of Havana line up next to each other and have the same rhythm, same vertical proportions. The height of the ground floor is typically 12’- 14’ tall and the verticality of the tall narrow openings between the repetitive columns that line the front of the buildings give space for the interaction with the building.

The columns themselves are often oversized as well and makes the human scale fell very small when interacting with them.

The City of Columns

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ARCHITECTURE OF CUBA

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PROGRAM

One of the things that I loved about Cubans was their interaction with the water’s edge. The activities of the Malecon were exciting. It was a place where locals and some tourists would go to escape the heat and catch a cool breeze from the ocean. The old sea wall was a place for music, love, gathering, reflection and a place to be seen.

The ferry terminal could allow a space for the people of Casa Blanca to have the same interaction with the water as they do on the Havana Side of the Harbor, on the Molecon.

Water’s Edge

We were told while we were in Cuba that we would be able to include additional programming into our proposed ferry stations. While I was there I tried to take an interest in what kind of daily activities the Cubans enjoyed and would find convenient if located by their daily means of trans-portation.

Sketch of the activies going on during out walk on the Molecon in Havana. Top - MoleconBottom - Class sitting on the edge of a wall in a fortress in Casa Blanca

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Activities and Interests

Cuba has a number of open public plazas where people actively come together. Often there are kids play-ing soccer of games in the open ar-eas, other spaces there are bistro like tables with lots of spaces for social gatherings and afternoon drinks.

The existing ferry terminal opens to a stark bare concrete plaza that could be revitalized with some additional site design outside the new terminal.

Cuban have limited resources to luxuries like cell phones, or a home computer. The internet service there is expensive no many have it.

Would be nice to have a place where they can connect arrange rides and arrangements with home during their arrival from the ferry.

Additionally would be a place to grab a quick Cuban Coff ee. Served in a small cup, often drank quickly stand-ing up.

Books are very popular in Cuba. They treat them with a lot of respect. Dur-ing our trip to Casa Blanc there was a huge Book Fair going on at the old fort, the turn out was massive! They hold this Book Fair their every year.

Ferry terminal could be a great place to have a small book exchange pro-gram, or book vendors.

PROGRAM

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HAVANA

CASA BLANCA

REGULA

TO THE HARBOR

SITE

Existing Station in Havana

Existing Station in Casa Blanca

SITE

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Overhead Photo of Existing Site in Casa Blanca

SITE

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There was a sense of longing and curiosity in the eyes and the questions of the Cubans that reside there.A longing for understanding of what is beyond their reach.Cuba is a communist country and its residences live within the confinements of the strict enforcements of their government. Food and money is rationed by government, also some places were also restricted. Cuba has designated certain places that only tourists are allowed at and locals are restricted of going to, such as swanky hotels or fancy restaurants.

The afternoons were often hot, quiet, and heavy with languor; an oppressive stillness of the air.

Act of Reaching into the DistanceSlowly Moving Out

Act of Grabing in a Sweeping Motion Then Pulling It In

Act of Holding, Holding on to a Dream of Possibilities of Hope and Change.

CONCEPTS

LONGING

Over looking the Harbor in Havana, Cuba

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Music and Dance of Cuba Salsa, Timba, Casino, Rueda! The music keeps everyone upbeat and in motion. While working on most my studio work for Cuban I had listened to traditional Cuban Music, from the legendary “Buena Vista Social Club” and La Familia Valera Miranda, to all the local street performers CD I had purchased while I was there.

During the time of my studies I found that rhythm is a strong structural system. The se-quence of certain patterns seem to dictate a particular form of organization. I wanted this to help unify my design process.

Some live music during one of our meals in Cuba

RHYTHM

Protect the Arts

CONCEPTS

LONG STUDIO

TRANSFORMATIONStarting in one state and evolving into another.

Cuban life style is very resilient. They seem to repair everything they can to give it new life and sustain it beyond the point a typical American would. Their cars and their architecture are an iconic legacies to their determination to strive within a time of limited resources. The energy and life is strong and vibrant along side the city that seems as though it is stuck in a time capsule.

In the early 1900’s Cuba boosted some of the most equities examples of Spanish, Art Deco, Art Nuveu Buildings of its time. With time the buildings have began to suffer the harsh af-fects of time and neglect, some cases restoration, demolition and reconstruction.

PRESERVED REPAIR COMPLETE DESTRUCTION RECONSTRUCTION

THE CANNON CEREMONY

Each night at the La Cabaña fortress, built around 1774 by the Spaniards to control the access of the Havana Port, a cannon fires over Havana bay at pre-cisely 9 p.m. o’clock. This ritual dates back to the co-lonial era. Back then, the cannon fire announced the official end of the day and the time to close the city gates for the night.

SUNSET ON THE HARBOR

FIRING OF THE CANNON

SUN RISE ON THE HARBOR

TRANSFORMATION OF THE CITY

CONCEPTS

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NATURAL PROGRESSION OF TRANSFORMATION

PHYSICAL CAUSE OF TRANSFORMATION

CONCEPTS

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CONCEPT MODELS

SMALL SCALEInitially we were to build 50 small scale models that combined our concept words into a physical representations.

I wanted to use natural materials to re-enforce the material ideals I intended to implement into the final building. Materials such as sticks and natural twine was used, to reflect the historic building compo-nents of the Bohios in Cuba.

I used a combination of different materials for each of the models I created during this exercise, the four models to the right represent the over all intentions of the fifty models that were created.

Most the concepts are about having one material enter into a center piece and exiting in a transformed manner. The shapes started to take the form of loose curves verses jagged edges. Often the one material would stretch past the changing point representing that not every-thing is completely changed in the end.

A view of my work station during the mass modeling process

Original concept models

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LARGER SCALEA total of twenty five larger models were then devel-oped to expand on strong ideas and to begin to archi-tecturalize the forms

I developed a rule in which each model was one part rigid, one part curvilinear. These shapes represented both the rigid and restricted structure of the Cuban life, and the free spirit of their arts and music.

The shapes began to create building forms. I began to see it as a multi story structure that compartmen-talize different programs into the corrugated pattern of the structure. The rigid building that housed the necessary programs of ticketing booths, rest rooms, waiting areas, and a security check point (all other programs we wanted to include were up to us).

At the end of the structure where the building meets the water, the form stretches itself out to large wave like forms housing the area where commuters would board the ferry.

CONCEPT MODELS

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This form was derived directly from the concept models we had devel-oped to this point. For midterm review we were to take our most devel-oped concept model that embodied our concept terms in an abstract form, and use that form to create a building.

The form that I was creating was a combination of a rhythmic corru-gated pattern that “danced” with similar partners of the same rhythm and created spaces for programming within the voids.

At the site’s edge where the land meets with the water the structure transforms into the curvilinear loading dock for boarding the ferries.

Problems I saw with this form was that it did not seem to be contextual with the area,. The build-ing looked like a foreign entity when placed on the site. I wanted something that had the same ges-tures but a smaller scale, more streamlined.

The ferry terminal need to help to activate the exist-ing plaza and work with the adjacent train station as well.

Final Concept Model

Concept Model

Sketch up Model, to scale with human figures.

CONCEPTUAL FORM

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Programmatic planning in sketch, of the Concept form driven iteration.

CONCEPTUAL FORM

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SCALE OF THE AREA

The buildings of Casa Blanca are signifi cantly smaller in scale than that of Havana. The structures adjacent to the the site are all one story high. Train tracks run across the front of the site, to the right is the existing train station. My goal was to design a structure that was more contextual to the area. I wanted to allow people who were coming to the area from the train to have a the opportunity to enjoy the view of the harbor and feel a connection with the cities across the harbor. At this point in my studies I worked to allow the site and the area to be refl ected stronger in the design. I took a longer look at the signifi cant pres-ence of the repetitious columns that are featured on many of the signifi cant buildings in the area. The rhythm of the columns tied into my original concept word “Rythm” harmoniously with the surround context.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

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RHYTHM / TRANSFORMATION

I had worked with the existing corregated pattern that I had established when first conceptualizing the idea of rythm. In order to reinforce the feeling and concept, I aligned a series of column like stripsto create a different one story structure for a more steamline shell for the ferry terminal.

I also wanted to play with light in the same fashion I had observed while in Cuba. By placing the solids close to each other I allowed small lines of light to stream into the interior of the building in an organized way.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

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PRECEDENCE

After developing the system of solid strips with light voids between them, I looked into the following presedence works to see how this type of system has been achieved in the past. .

Library Sports Complex, Colombia Community Center

DEVELOPING FORM

I worked with developing the profile of the form I had created. The profile would have the challenge of housing all the different programmatic areas. The raised transom would be able to help in assisting natural ventilation with operable windows in areas that had glazing in the exterior.

The different profiles could help to define the different programmatic areas. At this time in the study I was looking to have the structure act dynamically to the users with ele-ments that allowed the building to open and close and react to sun and weather.

Sun and Air studies

FORM AND STRUCTURE

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STUDY MODEL

I had used copper flashing as a modeling material to be able to easily mold the shapes of the structure. I wanted the building to transition from rigid corrugated form to the curvilinear form at the loading dock as it had in the previous iteration.

The material allowed me to add an additional layer of material transition I played with the concept of oxidizing the copper at one end to appear more aged and then shinny and new at the opposite end.

STRUCTURAL STUDY MODELS

When originally designing the struc-ture, I looked at creating a series of steel ribs that would hold the shape of the form. A thin layer of sheath-ing, undefined at this time, would then be applied on the exterior.

This system is later developed to reflect more sustainable, contextual and culturally relevant materials.

FORM AND STRUCTURE

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PROGRAMMATIC STUDY MODELS

looked at creating a series of steel ribs that would hold the shape of the form. The ribs would be very rigid on the plaza side of the building and have a corrugation at the top, on the back side the building would transition to a curvilinear shape at the water’s edge. This curving transition also would occur at the floating boar loading dock.

FERRY LOADING AREA

MEDIA AND BOOK EXCHANGE AREA

Using copper study model to integrate elements into the structure for seating in the loading area and standing computer desks in the media area

Plugging programs into the developed study model.

DEVELOPING LAYOUT

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DEVELOPING LAYOUT

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PRELIMINARY PLAN LAYOUT AND ELEVATIONS

The preliminary plan was developed to begin to see the new structure in the scale of the site with the programs that would be implemented. The gestures that were created on the exterior were created to reflect the programs on the inside. Front facade in front of the media, book area was planned to open itself up during open hours of operation.

Building was layed out in a straight line initially.Felt this did not work to fully engage the site’s footprint and also made it difficult to park the ferry on the inner side of the loading dock

DEVELOPING LAYOUT

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HAVANA

CASA BLANCA

REGULA

Site map showing the pathway of the Ferry from Havana and Regula

REVISED PLAN TO REFLECT SITE

The building was then given a more dynamic footprint to better re-late with the existing train station and the incoming path of the fer-ries. The center entrance was widen to allow the plaza to extend into the building and access the water front without having to engage with the terminal’s programming.

DEVELOPING LAYOUT

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DEVELOPING THE BUILDING

Planing programming on the site

Section through Security area

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DEVELOPING THE BUILDING

Diagram showing possible opening in closed areas for natural ventilation

Diagram of rain water containment system that would be used on site for rest rooms

LONG STUDIO

MODELING TO SCALE

Collage of the new building style to scale on the site.

DEVELOPING THE BUILDING

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Exterior programmatic areas would include areas for Bike Racks (the Chinese government had recently donated several thousand bicycles to Cuba within the last year), Seating area in the plaza, and a covered arcade entrance.

DEVELOPING THE BUILDING

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The plazas in Cuba are plentiful, this plaza is unique as it also act as a memorial of the fallen Martyrs of the Revolution.

In large concrete walls encryptions tell stories of the tragic time, children run around playing on the walls.

Plastic bags were placed near the surface of the concrete wall when cast, the figures they left behind are eerie human like forms.

Plaza de Martyr by Mario Coyula

MATERIALITY

CONCRETE

Concrete is predominately used in the area. It is durable but also flexible in the shape and forms it can create.

Examples of concrete in Cuba

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During our pre-trip studies we had learned about the Bohio - The Bohio can be considered the only non- European structure ever built in Cuba, the materials are organic, light and easy to ensemble. The Bohio had helped the natives of the Caribbean not only to settle but to expand their territories as it could be built anywhere and the materials are widely available in the region.

Although some Bohios have been able to withstand hurricane winds and because they do not utilize bonding or piercing materials they can be easy to rebuild.

The primary material to construct a Bohio is the Royal Palm tree, the entire struc-ture, walls and skin are built with the trunks, branches, leaves and upper bark re-spectively.

The Royal Palm grows plentifully in the area making the material a sustainable option. The esthetics of it brings the structure back to nature and back to the primi-tive construction of the area.

The Bohio

Organoponico MiramarStructure within the Organic Garden we had visit while on our trip.

ROYAL PALM

MATERIALITY

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MATERIALITY

I wanted to combine both the old construction materials of the Bohios, the Royal Palm, and reinforce it with a material of durability and proven resistance to time and weather.

Using this system I am able to obtain the curved surfaces that were planed.

The Bohio

Examples concrete form,with a bamboo structure

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MATERIALITY

Rendering into the Ferry Loading Area from the security check point

Open covered Plaza extention, reaches out to the water with a sea wall at edge. Adjacent to the ticketing area and cafe’ by the water

LONG STUDIO

FINAL PLANS

In my final design I had taken the deci-sion to also replace the existing train station that was adjacent the site and give it the same design form as the ferry terminal.

Giving the area a more cohesive feeling.

Plaza Extension

Sea Wall - Sitting Area

Ticket Sales

Rest Rooms

Security Office

Cafe

Sitting Area

Check Point

Loading Area

Media / Books

Reading Deck

Staff Office

Covered Walk

New Train Station

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EXISTING RESTAURANT

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FINAL PLANS