Cuba Modern

http://docomomo-us.org/news/cuba's_vanishing-modernity_architecture_nicolar-quintana_19252011?mc_cod=ed426093df&mc_eid=63d2bb8ceb

Nicolas Quintana
1925-2011
quintanaproject.com

Hello Everyone:

The island of Cuba is home to a diverse collection of architecture-from Spanish colonial to mid-twentieth century modern.  It is the architecture of the Cuban Modern Movement that is the subject of Josef Asteinza's article for DoCoMoMo, "Cuba's Vanishing Modernity: The Architecture of Nicolas Quintana (1925-2011)," that is the subject for today's post.  The Cuban Modern Movement is illustrated in a broad collection, mostly in the capitol city of Havana and in Varadero.  Despite their high quality, recognition in Cuba and abroad, they remained threatened by neglect, lack of resources, more recently development.  The work of Cuban modernist Nicolas Quintana is a clear example of these conditions.

Varadero Yacht Club Residential Condominum
Nicolas Quintana, 1957 demolished 2014
quintanaprojec.com

Nicolas Quintana, the subject of a documentary that Mr. Asteinza is co-producing, was part of a generation of architects who played a major role in introducing the Modern Movement in Cuba.  His predecessors included Mario Romansch, Emilio del Junco, Antonio Quintana (no relation), Aquinas Casablanca, Max Borges Recio, Nicolas Arroyo, and Gabriela Menendez.  His contemporaries included Frank Martinez and Ricardo Porro.  These architects were part of a greater but casual cultural movement that flourished in mid-twentieth century Cuba.  With a keen sense of self-awareness, a group artists and writes meticulously explored their own history and identity while experimenting with ideas from outside Cuba.  Mr. Asteniza writes, "For many architects of that generation, there was a similar examination of Cuban colonial and vernacular architecture for its functional, esthetic, and social elements."  The mid-twentieth century architects used the visual language of the International Modern movement, transforming it into an architecture that represented this particular time, place, and people.  The exploration of the idea of Cubans or lo cuban was the driving force behind his work.

Curran House
Nicolas Quintana, 1957
Varadero, Cuba
docomomo-us.org

Nicolas Quintana's search coincided with widespread urban development driven by rapid population and opportunities to put his inquiries into practice.  The end result was an amazing output of structures that mixed technical innovations, strong formal aesthetic, and functional elements.  A selection of the work, including those by Mr. Quintana, appears in DoCoMoMo's Arquitectura del Movimiento Moderno edited by Eduardo Luis Rodriquez in 2011.

Nicolas Quintana was the namesake son of a well-known architect, who co-founded the firm Moenck & Quintana with Angel Moenck.  The firm produced many notable buildings around Havana in the Eclectic style, including:Biltmore Yacht and Country Club, the Pro-Arte Musical Auditorium, and the School of Engineering and Architecture of the University of Havana.  Nicolas Quintana took over for his father in 1950 when the senior Quintana passed ed away.

Novak Cueto House
Mario Romanasch
docomomo-us.org

Nicolas Quintana's career in Cuba was brief but prolific. In less than ten years he was responsible for about two dozen projects, represented Cuba at the International Congresses of Modern Architecture (CIAM IX and X), and oversaw the National Planning Board.  Most of Mr. Quintana's projects consisted of private commissions and the National Bank of Cuba.  However, his conflicts with Che Guevara and the new post-revolution bank president firmly ended his Cuban career.

Josef Asteniza  visited several of Mr. Quintana's buildings and significants sites, interviewing his former colleagues, architecture historians, preservationists, residents, and client's children.  Mr. Asteniza writes, "Many voiced their concerned about the future of his work."  The following are three of Nicolas Quintana's projects that  illustrate the condition of his work.

Alicia Blanco House
Nicolas Quintana, 1953
Collection of Nicolas Quintana
docomomo-us.org

Alicia Blanco House

The Alicia Blanco House was one of Mr. Quintana's earliest projects and exhibits the influence of Le Corbusier, including the Domino Theory of construction.  All of the functions are contained within a single rectangular block except for the glass-enclosed dining room, which juts out from the main block on two pilotis.  The eave of the flat roof extends beyond the main block to provide midday shade.  The house, completed in 1953, was present at CIAM IX in Aix-en-Provence the same year.

The Blanco House has undergone some changes, specifically, "the reduction of the large glass surfaces, eliminating the sense of transparency and the accretion of the balconies, exterior stairs and other features that interrupt the original lines."  Since modernist architect frequently balances interior and exterior spaces; between detail and ensemble, the design integrity of modern movement homes is vulnerable to even the most minute modifications.  Regardless, this house is better condition than others and out of harm's way in its quiet suburban locale; still occupied by one family.

Mardonio Santiago House
Nicolas Quintana, 1956
Collection of Nicolas Quintana
docomomo-us.org

Mardonio Santiago House

In 1957 Nicolas Quintana was commissioned by tobacco dealer Mardonio Santiago to design him the most modern house in Cuba.  Mr. Santiago purchased a plot of land for himself and his family in the Biltmore suburbs of western Havana.  Nicolas Quintana was basically given carte blanch with the house.  The result was "a balanced composition of formal and functional elements, articulate his ideas about the modern Cuban house."  Despite the area's zoning regulations mandating a single detached house (too American for the architect), each part of the house was arranged in a way that defined a series of private outdoor spaces.  The two primary blocks- a larger single story block for dining and entertaining; a smaller two-story block for sleeping-each feature a "boldly folded concrete roof."  The blocks are linked by a glass breezeway which separates the courtyards.  Colored glass and louvered windows provide light and air.  Added elements such as the garage and "freestanding walls that echo the geometry and dimensions of the roof complete the enclosures of the courtyard."

Mardonio Santiago House
Nicolas Quintana, 1956
Photography by Josef Asteinza, 2014
docomomo-us.org

The Santiago family moved in not long after the Revolution came and forced them  out of Cuba.  Since then, the house has been home to six different families.  Over the years, it has been subdivided by the new residents.  The glass breezeway has been razed and new house was built in its place.  While the current residents are aware of the house's history, their basic housing take precedence over preservation.

Condominium Residential Yacht Club (Cabanas del Sol)

The last project on our tour through Cuban mid-century modernism is the Cabanas del Sol in Varadero, the best of Nicolas Quintana's work and the apex of the Cuban Modern

Remains of the Condominium Residential Yacht ClubNicolas Quintana, 1957
Photography by Josef Asteinza, 2014
docomomo-us.org

Movement.  Sad to report that they were demolished last year.  The demolition of these focuses attention must be paid to the forces that threaten other significant buildings: economic development with little regard for cultural heritage.  This is not a problem unique to Cuba but it does highlight the plight of older building under ill-considered economic development.

The Cabanas del Sol are located on the Hicacos    Peninsula, about 140 kilometers east of Havana in Varadero, the premier tourist beach destination and primary economic engine for the island nation.  Varadero became a major source of revenue in the 1990s after the Soviet Union collapsed and subsidies ended.  The area was redeveloped as ...a series of all-inclusive high-rise hotels for foreign tourists.  In the first decade of the 21st century, 11 large hotels totaling over 6,000 rooms were constructed. (Perez, Felix, 4, 2010)

Courtyard of Varadero Yacht Club Residential CondominiumNicolas Quintana, 1957 demolished 2014
Collection of Nicolas Quintana
docomomo-us.org

Josef Asteniza writes, "Originally call the Condominium Residential Yacht Club, the Cabanas del Sol consist of dozens of seaside bungalows on a parcel of land between the Dupont estate and the Hotel Intercontinental." The bungalows are arranged in four staggered rows, perpendicular to the beach and main highway of Varadero.  Between each is "a central axis for cars provides parking spaces while the two parallel axes landscaped with pedestrian walkways connect the houses to each other and the beach."  There were two clubhouses: one for adults and one for children, that occupied the beachfront.  The bungalows are built from ashlar limestone; varying in size and height based on the number of bedrooms.  the flat or butterflied roofs, projecting windows with sliding glass, and hardwood louvers add a lively quality to the bungalows.

Current image of the Hotel Club Kawama
Mounck & Quintana
Varadero, Cuba
trip advisor.com

Nicolas Quintana's use of ashlar limestone is consistent with his other beach house projects in Varadero.  One notable commercial example is the Club Kawama, developed before his tenure at Mounck & Quintana.  Between 1954 and 1956, the late-Mr. Quintana added new construction to the hotel.  Mr. Quintana was found of the local pine tree and felt that the buildings in Varadero should not be taller than the pines, therefore, he proposed such an ordinance for the Master Plan of Varadero. (Quintana, 2011)  The low-slung bungalows at Casa del Sol attest to this and offer a welcome contrast to the high-rise hotels of Hicacos Peninsula.

Concerned preservation groups such as DoCoMoMo Cuba and some of the residents of the Cabanas del Sol have spearheaded efforts to save the site and nearby Hotel Internacional, built between 1949 and 1950 by the firs Mira y Rosich with Ricardo Galbis and Vicente Llarena.  In 2010, there were rumors floated, later confirmed when residents were approached with offers of reloaction, that the Ministry of Tourism planned to build a new hotel on the sites.  Some of the reasons given fro the decision to demolish the buildings "were the close proximity of the bungalows to the fragile coastline and the condition of the aging hydraulic system."  Since neither the Cabanas del Sol and the Hotel Interncional were designated cultural heritage sites, this left nothing in the way of a protection mechanism to halt demolition.  However, the Hotel Internacional will be resurrected in some form and fashion.  The construction company Bouygues Batiment International released a statement in July 2015, announcing the return of the hotel in 2018.

What Now?

Cuban and American relations are on the mend, after a fifty years of estrangement.  This change brings both promise and peril to Cuba's rich architectural legacy.  As the embargo begins to ease up, there are rays of hope for Cuba's decaying cities.  The increased tourism offers immediate revenue for short-term repairs.  While economic development is a most welcome opportunity, however, without a clear set of priorities, even this opportunity can pose a real threat to the delicate Cuban architectural heritage.  An information campaign is not enough.  The razing of Cabanas del Sol, in spite of local preservation efforts, occurred outside the media radar.  Good publicity is all well and fine but if it does not lead to conservation resources, as exemplified by the National Art School, it can led to the loss of more culturally important structures.  Josef Asteinza hopes that the United States will come to Cuba's aid in preserving its cultural heritage, create the engine for economic development, build an infrastructure, and affirm worthwhile cultural priorities.