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Master Dissertation Project

A Symbiotic Relation of Cooperative Social Housing


and Dispersed Tourism in Havana Vieja.
A Developement Model & Architectural Prototypes.
by Iwo Borkowicz
promotor Kris Scheerlinck
International Master of Science in Architecture
Ku Leuven, Faculty of Architecture, Campus Sint-Lucas Gent
academic year 2015/16
June 2016

Table of Contents
1. Introduction.
2.
Streetscape Territories
3.
Historic outline.
4.
Cuba today.
5.
Topic selection
5.1
Potential topics:
5.2
Selection Criteria
6.
Tourism in Cuba
7.
Casa particular
8.
Housing in Cuba
9.
Office of the City Historian (OHC)
10.
Research Question
11.
The idea
12.
Time significance
13. Calculations
13.1
Surface calculations based on a generated model
13.2
Possible efficienci
13.3
Financing calculations
13.4
Cost of construction
14.
Behaviour of demand
15.
Hotel demand in Havana
16.
Positioning in Havana
17.
Filling the gaps
18.
Area of the proposal
19.
Housing cooperative
20. Locality
21.
Tenants and guests
22.
Space negotiation
23.
Emerging business
24.
Architecture
24.1 _Ventilation
24.2
_Passive cooling
24.3
_Handicraft
24.4
_Materials
24.5
_Front facade
24.6 _Color
24.7 _Roof
24.8 _Patios
24.9 _Plans
24.10
_Floor height
24.11 _Street and the building
25.
Process of emerging - cooperative design process
26. Prototypes
27.
Prototype 1
28.
Prototype 2
29.
Prototype 3
30.
Prototype 4
31.
Prototype 5
32.
Second intervention
32.1 Architecture
33.
Personal Reflection
34.
End note
35. References
36.
Figure list

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1: Havana, street scene.

1.

Introduction.
During the summer of 2015 a six week long architectural research was healed in the capital

city of Cuba - Havana. This Master Dissertation is using that experience and knowledge gathered
during that time as well as researchs continuation throughout the following year in Gent as a
Master Dissertation Design Studio at Ku Leuven - International Master Program in Architecture and
Sustainability.
Onsite research was financially supported by VLIR-UOS - an organisation that supports
partnerships between universities in Flanders (Belgium) and the South, looking for innovative
responses to global and local challenges.
Additionally this research enjoyed a local support of The Jos Antonio Echeverra Higher
Polytechnic Institute an undergraduate, post-graduate and doctoral research university located in
Marianao, Havana, Cuba.
Both the onsite research and the Master Dissertation was conducted within Streetscape
Territories framework.

2.

Streetscape Territories
This master dissertation fits into the research framework of the international Streetscape

Territories research project .


Streetscape Territories is the name given to an international research project at KU Leuven,
part of the Research Group Urban Projects, Collective Spaces and Local Identities. The project deals
with streets as systems of open spaces and study the way buildings and properties are related to
streets and how their inhabitants can give meaning to them.
The projects starts from the assumption that challenges or potentials of urban
projects can be addressed by an approach that starts from the street that defines or conditions
accessibility, permeability, proximity, productivity and mobility for its inhabitants and users.
Streetscape Territories deals with models of proximity within a street, neighbourhood or
region and starts from the assumption that urban space, from the domestic scale till the scale
of the city, can be understood as a discontinuous collective space, containing different levels
of collective use that are defined by multiple physical, cultural or territorial boundaries.

2: Havana, El Cerro, street scene.

3: Havana in pictures

3.

Historic outline.
Truly understanding any city, if possible, is a very hard and a never ending process. But what

if the object of the research has a very complex, multicultural and dynamic history, was alienated
from outside world for over half a century to just recently open its military protected gates again
and is in the middle of a set of galloping socio-political changes?
One being mesmerized by its beauty, weirdness and exciting character can still try to do so.
This is a text describing the struggle, the surprises and unexpected realities. It is an attempt of
understanding the capital city of one of the most complex countries out there - Cuba.

Cuba is the largest island of Caribbeans, originally inhabited by native Americans was
colonized by Spain in late 15th century. Nowadays its a nation of over 11 million people of very
multiethnic origins, including the aboriginal Tano and Ciboney peoples, the long period of Spanish
colonialism, the introduction of African slaves, and a close relationship with the Soviet Union in the
Cold War.
Havana used to be the most developed and wealthy city of South and Central America in
1950. Tourism magazine Cabaret Quarterly described Havana as a mistress of pleasure, the lush
and opulent goddess of delights. (Del Toro,2007). During this period Cuba was as rich per capita
as Italy and richer than Japan (Fontova,2015). Run by pro American government with Fulgencio
Batista, man often violent towards the political opposition, as a president. Before Fidel Castros
1959 revolution, Cuba had an extremely unequal economy, with large capital outflows to foreign
investors but the countrys economy had grown rapidly in the early part of the century, fueled by the
sale of sugar to the United States. In late 1950 Cubas opposition run by Fidel Castro gained enough
support to overtake the Island. Promising a reintroduction of Cuban democratic constitution from
1940 and blaming Mr. Batista and his USA support web for turning Cuba into Americas brothel.
It did not take long till Mr. Castro openly admitted for the first time that the real goal of
Revolution is to transform Cuba into a communistic state. All of the private companies and properties
were confiscated and redistributed in the way Revolution approved of. Tens of thousands of mostly
wealthy Cubans emigrated leaving their homes, cars, farms and factories behind. Havana lost the
priority status and government focused on rural areas and with success executed promised free
common education and healthcare for all.
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4: Havana 1940.

5: Marching revolutionists.

At the beginning of the 1970s the ratio of the salaries between a high government employee
and a regular worker was only 5-1, educational access up to higher education offered to virtually
everyone in the country, health-care expanded to cover the entire island free of charge, sport facilities
opened to everyone, cultural events performed not just in Havana but also in factories and villages,
day-care offered to women in order to enable them to work, etc. (Manhart, 2013)

The price to pay for that turned out to be high, Cubans lost their freedom, property and
connection to the world. From 20 jails, that existed on the island before revolution, the number
grew to over 200 in 1970s. Revolution did not allowed for any criticism or opposition, often
using inhumane means to achieve obedience. Cuba from having the biggest amount of cars, TVs,
cows, km of railway per habitant in South America decade by decade fell lower and lower in these
statistics. Starting at one cow per habitant in 1950 reaching one cow per eight habitants nowadays.
(Stasinski,2014)

Hundred of thousands of people decided to run away. Fidel Castro is a smart leader. That is
why he let, as he called it, the bad blood to exit the island. On this rare occasions tens of thousands
of Cubans were leaving the island on boats and heading mainly to US. Big part of emigrants risked
their lives and tried to cross the sea on self built rafts, often with a fatal results.

An average monthly salary on Cuba today is just 20 dollars! One million of Cuban migrants
living in Miami as middle class citizens have more wealth than the whole 11 million of those who
stayed on the island combined. (Stasinski,2014)

Where does Havana as a city find itself at after all these changes? Havana is a city full of
beautiful architecture typical for Spanish colonialism. The old city - Havana Vieja - is a UNESCO
heritage site since 1982. The long gone richness of this place is visible even after more than half
a century of complete neglect. Due to a extremely poorly governed economy of the communistic
Cuba the state of its capitols architecture and infrastructure is absurdly bad. Revolutionary Cuba
despite its grand imperialistic plans never actually earned money to say the least. Fidel Castro and
Che Guevara wasted money on wars in Africa and Latin America, and the only factor that always

kept Cubas economy running was the outside founding. First from Soviet Union and later from
Venezuelan dictatorship.

Nowadays, according to UNESCO Havana Vieja experiences two partial or full collapses
of buildings every three days (PDHL,2000). Flooding, salt water, corrosion, poor maintenance and
overfilling of buildings are among the main reasons of that situation. Buildings confiscated by the
Revolution were divided into much smaller units and sometimes up to twenty families were pushed
into previously single family villas. Havana, despite a law that prevent Cubans from migrating into
the capitol city still straggles with a housing crisis of an enormous magnitude.

It would be unfair and untruth to describe Cuba only through the big policies and its effects,
because a lot of Cubans are doing their best within this reality. For example world famous Cuban
music despite the interrogations and control, big freedom limitations still amazes fans around the
world with their songs, and one needs to know that the regime often went as far as confiscating
instruments from the musicians that would not agree to only performing regime accepted music.
However maybe the most prominent example and the most relevant to this paper is the world famous
restoration program of the Old Havana. Conducted by Office of the City Historians (OCH) with a
support of UNESCO.

The factor that plays here the main role is Cubas financial crisis, and paradoxically this might
have been the key that pushed Cubans to finding other than common ways of dealing with old
city center problems and preserved Havana Vieja in a unique way. Cuba is and was just too poor
to even demolish buildings in order to built new and theoretically more efficient ones. Many
cities around the world now deeply regret replacing parts of their old city fabric with modernistic
typology that nowadays neither works nor is appreciated by the inhabitants because of it very bad
ageing properties, often low construction quality and imported standards often based on revolution
not evolution that not necessarily fits to the given context or climate. Havana Vieja still in a big part
looks like a ruin because just not making mistakes is in this context not enough.

4.

Cuba today.
Nowadays Cuba is undergoing a set of changes. Almost every week is brings something

new. This dynamic period started in 2012 with reintroduction (it was already once introduced right
after the collapse of the soviet Union) of the list of 178 allowed businesses that Cubans can practice
privately and on top of that was followed by renegotiation of US-Cuban relations in 2014.

Cubas private sector may seem awkwardly DIY, but its the fastest-growing part of an
otherwise moribund economy, fueling almost 10 percent of gross domestic product. In last 5 years
over 500 000 Cubans registered as private business owners (Leroy, 2014). The financial potential
of those profession is mostly very small but it dynamicised Cuban economy and activated a big part
of Cubans at the same time giving them the sense of self value and possibility of being responsible
for themselves.

Additionally, In April 2009, President Obama began implementing a less strict policy
towards Cuba what lead to the removal of Cuba from US list of countries sponsoring terrorism in
2014 where it spent last fifty years. Relations between Cuba and the United States were formally
re-established on July 20, 2015, with the opening of the Cuban embassy in Washington and the
U.S. embassy in Havana what also lead to relaxation in trade and travel restrictions between both
countries.(Archibold & Hirschfeld, 2014)

In 2008 Raul Castro lifted the cell phone ban and in 2015 first internet hot spots were
assembled in major towns of Cuba revolutionising Havanas park life. It is still a high luxioury but
there seems to be a possibility of major progress in coming years. Cubans can travel outside Cuba
more easily now and the connection with the outside world seems to be on a good track of getting
back to normality. (Berdini, 2016)

It does sound promising but there is still a huge amount of work do be done. Political freedom
does not exist.Freedom of speech is on a very low level because all the media are controlled by
the government. Skype and other internet communication services are blocked. Yoani Sanchez the
author of the internet blog 14 y medio that documents everyday reality of life on Cuba was awarded
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6: Raul Castro and Barack Obama

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multiple times by international commissions as a freedom activist and an journalist including 2015
Knight International Journalism Award . As if to prove her point her blog was hacked and blocked
by Cuban government a couple of times.

Another very interesting phenomenon is taking place in Havana since the collapse
of the Sovie Union which shortly lead to a great shortage in food and gasoline. Cubans had to
turn into a urban-farming nation, and they did it in a great, beautiful and even romantic style.
Most of empty land between buildings or even plots left behind after the building collapsed
were turned into productive gardens. Without gasoline Havanas inhabitants could not afford the
mass transport of food from the farmlands outside the city. At the same time without an import
of pesticides or any hi-tech farming methods all of Havanas urban farms are producing food in
a very sustainable and ecological fashion with natural compost based fertilization methods. Most
of these farmland operate as agrar-cooperatives - they are run by the community surrounding the
farmed plot what leads to a great deal of community integration and pride. This is yet another
great example of how Cubans despite the harsh reality of the life on the island manage to amaze.

5.

Topic selection
Cuba is dynamic, it has a lot of problems but also achievements that inspire. That is why the

first period of work dedicated to this master dissertation was focused on creating a list of potential
topics related to the production, transformation and use of space that could be analyzed and lead to
an architectural intervention.
5.1

Potential topics:

- Small emerging street-present private businesses. - Cuban economy that for last five decades
was purely based on national business in 2010 changed after the Revolutionary Government allowed
for small private business initiatives to exist.
- Cooperatives of second level and its possible impact. - It is said that in 2016 a new law will
be introduced that will allow cooperatives to join in groups called secound level cooperatives that
would be permitted to import goods into the island (since the revolution all the import was nationally
overseen).
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- Booming touristic demand. - The number of tourists visiting Cuba are dynamically growing
since the collapse of the Soviet Union, due to the recent changes the paste of this growth became
even higher.
- Reintroduction of cruise ships in Havana harbor. - In 2015 a first big touristic ship arrived
to Havana harbor since the revolution.
-Reappearance of American tourism on the island.- Political shift in relations between U.S.
and Cuba may bring en ease on difficulties that American tourists trying to travel to Cuba had to face
so far. Before the Revolution American tourists made up a majority of all visitors.
- Private people from outside of the island buying Cuban properties. - Despite the law that is
trying to prevent this from happening by forbidding purchases of properties by non-Cubans sails are
being organized through puppet-buyers that agree to pass the rights to the property as soon as the
law changes.
- Reintroduction of world pop culture events on the island. In march of 2016 The Rolling
Stones played for the first time in Havana in front of a 500.000 of Cubans.
- Failed Cuban industry and its properties.- Cuba is rich in factories that stay out of order for
many years.
- Possible mass emigration after real border opening. - Big part of asspecially young Cubans
dream of migrating to U.S. as soon as possible.
- Possible return of Cuban migrants after Mr. Castro death. - Re-migration of Cubans into the
island would cause a lot of problems connected to financial gap that grew between Cubans on the
island and the rest of the world during the last half a century.
- New homeless people pushed out of their houses by prerevolutionary owners of the property
reclaiming it. - Multiplicity of prerevolutionary owners of properties on the island declare a will of
reclaiming what had been confiscated from them in 1959.
- Influence of internet on public space . - In 2015 first public hotspots were installed and they
attract big numbers of Cubans every day and night.
- International laws influencing Cuban market after reconnection of Cuban economy with a
global standards. - Many international laws, for example copyrights are not being respected on the
island what may bring problems in the future.
- Cuban housing crisis. - Its estimated by Cuban officials that as many as 500.000 more
housing units are needed to satisfy the housing needs of the Cuban nation.
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- What will happen to the identity of all public spaces now marked by revolutionary sculptures
and names in a face of possible end of the Revolutionary Cuba?
- Fate of numerous Cuban jails and military buildings in post-revolutionary Cuba. - Cuban
prisons after the Revolution grew ten times in number in 1960. This quantity will no longer be
necessary in the future.
- Influence of the outflow of old American car from the island and a danger of inflow of
cheaper and younger but still old cars from both Americas.
- Growing group of young creative Cubans who identify with American culture creating clubs
and organizing events in Havana.
- Uncertain fate of urban farming after Cuba reconnects to the outer world economically.
5.2

Selection Criteria

In order to make a decision which topic is to be developed into a project two criteria of
evaluation of the possible topics were introduced.

First criteria is realism.


To be as close to reality topics that are built on a hypothesis that Cuban revolutionary
government will lose power soon, despite a strong group of journalists and political scientists that
predict that situation, due to a bigger probability of Cuban government evolving than changing
dramatically were eliminated first.
At the same tame this filter forces to not only assume that Castro brothers will remain in
power but also sets the project as a one that needs to integrate within Cuban communistic ideology.
To be realistic the project will need to focused on being financially possible what in such a poor
country will not be an easy task.

The second criteria is necessity. In a country of so many issues one cannot address
all of them at once purely due to lack of resources. A certain type of prioritization needs
to occur in order to address the most urgent problems and opportunities first. Topics
whichs repercussions are smaller or whichs urgency is not great were eliminated that way.

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Finally filters quite clearly lead to two issues important and common around the whole island:
- housing shortage crisis,
- hotel infrastructure shortage.

6.

Tourism in Cuba
Prior to the revolution, Cuba was the most popular touristic direction of the Caribbean. After

the revolution mostly due to the US-Cuba conflict, tourism dropped down very significantly to a record
of only 5000 visitors per year in the 60. After the Soviet Union collapse, during so called Special
Period when Cuba straggled with extreme poverty touristic income started to be more accepted by
Cuban government and investments in touristic infrastructure were made which triggered a growth
in visitors. By 1997 tourism replaced sugar as the countrys largest industry (Figueras, 2003). In
recent years due to strong signs of Cuba opening fully again the numbers of tourists are growing very
fast. In 2015 3.1 million tourists visited Cuba.

A lot of investors see a big chance in this upcoming boom on Cuba. One has to understand
that the biggest market that is at the same time the nearest one - the US is still not even close to
representing its demand for trips to Cuba due to very complicated procedures that are stopping mass
tourism from US to Cuba. This will change in upcoming years. Before the revolution 90% of tourists
visiting the island came from the US, now this number is oscillating around 10% (Del Toro, 2007),
when US - Cuba travelling will become easy a great increase in the demand can be expected. In the
face of these prognosis it is not surprising that very big amounts of investors are willing to invest
big amounts of money into touristic infrastructure on Cuba any time they are allowed to (Winston,
2014).

Cuban government understands the great financial potential of those investments but at the
same time is very conscious about the threats they carries with themselves. A lot of capitalistic
characteristics of mass tourism stand in pure contradiction to Cuban communistic values. Some
of the aspects of letting in the outside money into Cuba not only would not harmonies with the
revolutionary ideology but also would create real economic and social problems where gentrification
and polarization is among the most serious one.

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7: Growing touristic demand

8: A guesthouse

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Cuba is allowing for investments as it desperately needs money but it does it under very strict
conditions and is very careful in that process. For example if a company from outside Cuba wants to
set a hotel in Havana Vieja it needs to agree to these conditions:
- the hotel will be established in an existing historic building and the investor will pay for the
renovation that needs to be approved by the Historic Department of the Old Havana district.
- the majority of the profit of the hotel will not leave the country (the exact percentage is
negotiated individually but it always is strongly beneficial for the Cuban side),
- the prices for the services provided should not be disproportional in the Cuban context.

The last point is executed with the smallest success as the hotel demand on Cuba is so much
bigger than the capacity of the existing hotels. But the first two are so far executed with quite a good
result.

At the same time even if the hotel is built somewhere outside Havana on an empty plot on the
shore the investment is structured as a consortium between Cuban and outer party, never alone by
the outer player (Sehgal, 2016).
Here it is important to introduce the common concept of conducting bigger investments
by Cubans. In recent years Cubans got the right to set the so called non-agrar cooperatives, like
restaurants, clubs and other amusement services, transportation businesses or just shops. The way it
works in that in order to avoid an overly polarization everybody who takes part in the given business
is at the same time an owner, from the cleaning lady and the bouncer up to the decision makers and
main investors. This structure allows Cubans to set bigger business outside the national business
typology.

7.

Casa particular
Tourism may bring about irreversible losses and distortion to the city, but it is also one of the

few affordable means to garner the capital necessary for urban conservation.
... but that positive effect could be extended through the development of a network of
hostels and inns within the restored shells of hundreds of mansions appeared throughout the city,
disseminating both the negative and the positive economical and social impact of tourism that
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could even reach a neighborhood-based tourism in which benefits are directly experienced by local
residents.(Coyula, 1997)
In 1997 the Cuban government allowed Cubans to rent out rooms in their houses or apartments
to tourists, providing Cuban families with new sources of income (Hunt, 2016). As any other type
of accommodation in Cuba such as hotels, camping and motels were owned by the government, the
term casa particular stated that this kind of paid lodging was privately operated.
Despite the major housing crisis families already squeezed into overcrowded flats often
decide to rent one or more rooms to tourists. The math is simple, an average salary of a Cuban is 20
dollars, a room can generate twice that amount in one day. Cuban government still keeps the hand on
the pulse and highly taxes those rooms. The tax is steady - is not influenced by the amount of money
generated by the property. An owner of a room for rent pays a fixed price set by municipality worker.
The minimum is 173 CUC (around 173 dollars) per room per month and varies depending on the
location size of the room and its quality.

This model suites Cuban government ideologically, everybody gets a little instead of big
hotels that tend to enrich highly but only a small group of investors. At the same time one can read
in every tourist guide about Cuba that accommodation in a Cuban home should be on everyones
to do list.

That is why both Cuban officials and Airbnb website found a common ground and this
company got the approval to function on the island. The taxation issue that is often brought up in
Airbnb context is still a question but one needs to know that with or without Airbnb service a room
for rent on Cuba is still taxed internally as described above. That is why still a big part of the tourist
money returns to the national budget.

This model helps to deal with the touristic demand and decreases pressure to build big hotels,
alien to Cuban landscape and especially Old Havana streetscape.

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8.

Housing in Cuba
Cuba, a country of about 11 million people, lack around 500.000 housing units to adequately

meet the needs of the islands citizens, according to the most recent government numbers from 2010.
The housing deficit widens each year as more buildings fall further into disrepair, punished yearround by the tropical sun, sea and wind.
Sergio Diaz-Briquets, a US-based demographer who has written about the islands housing
deficit, estimated the figure is now somewhere between 600.000 and one million. (Rodriguez, 2014)

The magnitude of Cuban housing crisis is very serious and puts it in the highest position
on the basic human needs missing list. On one hand officially there are no homeless people in a
communistic regime on the other the condition of buildings in Havana is so critical that UNESCO
in 2001 reported an average of two partial or total buildings collapses every three days in Havana
Vieja alone!
In Havana over 100.000 people are awaiting to get an apartment. At the same time despite
a small group of squatters that live in abandoned factories 97% of them are pushed into already
extremely overcrowded houses. Sometimes up to 20 families live in a house that was designed for
one. It leads to a big number of self constructed inner separations of space that loads already old
construction of buildings and often leads to collapse (Stasinski,2014).
Overcrowding of houses is so saver that its not uncommon for young married couples to live
separately as they have no place to move in together. One can find rooms for hourly rental dedicated
exactly for married couples looking for a moment of privacy.

Cuban government for years is trying to address this issue but the problem grows faster than
its being irradiated. An interesting program called Microbrigades of building new housing took place
in the eastern part of Havana in 1970.
The basic principle of the Microbrigades was to make it possible for needing housing to
directly address that need themselves. A group of 33 workers (22% female) from a governmentrun workplace would leave their regular jobs and instead build apartments for a two to three years
period. Once finished, the workers who participate in building were usually assigned a unit.
(Disch & Brunken, 2007)
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9: View on El Cerro district and Havana bay.

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As expected these buildings, not built by professionals, lack in quality and sometimes right
from the start had big problems for example with water leaks.

In 2010 Cuban government calculated that to eradicate the housing shortage on Cuba one
million of new housing units would have to be built in comming ten years, 200.000 in Havana alone.
In 2008 44.000 new units were constructed, but in 2011 only 32.000 and this decreasing
tendency is continuing.

9.

Office of the City Historian (OHC)


The restoration of Old Havanaa .826 square mile district containing some 3,370 buildings

and 66,750 residents, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1982has been
carried out under a unique model of self-financing and sustainability that has achieved worldwide
recognition. Since 1993, the Office of the Historian of the City of Havana has had broad authority over
all planning, land use, development, and investment activities within the historic district, including
the ability to develop and operate stores and hotels, tax businesses, carry out construction projects,
and use its earnings to finance housing renovations, community facilities, and social services for
local residents.

Over the past 15 years, OHC has generated more than $400 million in netto revenues
from its operations, as well as taxes and rents paid by private businesses under its jurisdiction. Its
current annual profits exceed $40 million. Of this total, around 45% is reinvested in tourist-oriented
businesses, 20% is returned to the central government, and 35% is used for housing renovations,
community facilities, and social programs.
OHCs social programs include a center for children with special needs, a home for women
with high-risk pregnancies, assisted living facilities for the elderly, and educational programs for
schoolchildren provided by the museums that it operates. OHC also runs a school, funded in part by
the Spanish government, to train skilled craftspeople in rehab trades. It has created more than 13,500
jobs, 42% of which are held by women and 20% by youth under age 25. (Achtenberg, 2013)

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10. Research Question


How can Cuba improve its actions in addressing housing shortage and rising tourism demand
in a sustainable and socially responsible way, having in mind the threat of negative impact of
gentrification on the city.

11. The idea


Housing shortage is caused on Cuba mostly by the fact that Cuba does not have money to
build or renovate houses. Hotel situation on Cuba to the contrary does not suffer from financial issues
but rightfully is not allowed to grow freely especially in Havana Vieja as the impact of mass tourism
is dangerous if invited on wrong terms.

The idea is to simply merge those two into a typology that will create both housing
and hotel

capacity. A mixed typology can prevent big company draining the income of

Cuban tourism, preventing polarization. At the same time this way of addressing those
issues will not stimulate gentrification of the district which Havana Vieja is in a huge risk of.
Lastly this idea will address the changing dynamics of the touristic demand in a sustainable way.
More precisely one could imagine buildings in areas that attract tourists that would consist
of regular flats for Cubans and a proportionate number of hotel units that would work in a casa
particular system and earn money to pay off the loan taken for the construction of the building itself.
Cuban inhabitants would take care for the guests at the same time making a living.
(This structure is more broadly analyzed in the coming chapter - calculations.)

This model of tourist accommodation is not only sustainable and prevents the polarization
of society it is at the same time socially healthy and lately very fashionable. One can feel the Cuban
culture in much greater scale by simply living with them. Of course this is still a limited way of living
together and guests are guaranteed an expected level of privacy and comfort. On website offering
accommodation one can see hundreds of pictures and reviews of hotels and casa particulares. What is
interesting and even moving is the common tendency of guests to, among pictures from the holydays,
upload pictures of them with their hosts often titled : Best hosts ever! or Our Cuban family!.
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10: Possible future scenarios of an urban gap in Havana Vieja.

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12. Time significance


OHC is working to restore housing in Havana Vieja the difference in between their approach
and the proposed one in this project is mostly visible in two areas: social impact and time significance.
This project does not undermine the methods currently applied in the Old Town but builds upon them
and tries to contribute to them.
The intention of the project is to bring a highly needed relief to the housing issue as soon as
possible. Cuba is now in a very dynamic period and the style with which this transformation is going
to happen is going to shape this nations future.
Cubans need to as soon as possible start to catch up with the global reality if they are not to
be completely eaten by it. Of course there is also a possibility of reversing into a state of separation
but nobody on the island wants that.
There are many dangers awaiting at every step of the process of opening up that Cubans will
have to face. Economically, culturally, as a society and as individuals and in order to have the biggest
chances of a positive outcome Cubans need to be as strong as possible. It is very hard to be strong
on many areas when the basic need of living in humane conditions is not fulfilled. That is why it is
so crucial to create additional housing for Cubans as soon as possible and especially in the area like
Havana Vieja which will be or already is the first to face those challenges.
OHC is using some of the generated money to build housing but it is done in a paste that is
not fully satisfactory as the model requires first to build an element that generates money and after
years use the money it generated to build housing or other social infrastructure. Many necessary
investments like schools, elderly houses or hospitals Havana Vieja could not be financed any other
way, but housing through the idea of marring it with Casa Particulare system may have a chance of
being realized sooner. The model this projects proposes is based on a loan but the business model
provided for it is eligible as the calculations show. With that in mind the loan should not be impossible
to provide.
One can imagine that in ten or twenty years those housing block would anyway be restored.
However ten years in this fragile moment in history of living in comfort, earning steady money and
having a chance of running a business in good conditions that the project could provide may be its
biggest success.

24

1000$

2017
1000$

2018
1400$

2019
1200$

2020
800$

2021
1200$

2022
1800$

2023
1700$

2024
1500$

2025

15.000$

1500$

2026

15.000$

1500$

2027
800$

2028
1000$

2029
800$

2030
500$

2031
800$

2032

700$

2033

400$

2034

400$

2035

300$

2036

HOTEL UNIT FINANCIAL LIFECYCLE

Cuban family
15.000$

3.000$

17.000$

4.000$

18.000$

4.000$

12.000$

7.000$

8.000$

8.000$

12.000$

5.000$

14.000$
8.000$

10.000$
10.000$

10.000$
8.000$

hotel unit is converted to housing

2037

2038

OVERCROWDED

loan is paid of

loan
Cuba
Americans can travel to Cuba

OVERCROWDED

OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED

EMPTY

EMPTY

OVERCROWDED

OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED

EMPTY

OVERCROWDED

OVERCROWDED

EMPTY

OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED

OVERCROWDED

HAELTHY DENSITY HAELTHY DENSITYHAELTHY DENSITY OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED HAELTHY DENSITY HAELTHY DENSITY HAELTHY DENSITY OVERCROWDED

RENOVATED

EMPTY

HAELTHY DENSITY

RENOVATED

HAELTHY DENSITY HAELTHY DENSITYHAELTHY DENSITY OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED

HAELTHY DENSITY

EMPTY

OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED HAELTHY DENSITY HAELTHY DENSITYHAELTHY DENSITY

OVERCROWDED OVERCROWDED HAELTHY DENSITY HAELTHY DENSITYHAELTHY DENSITY OVERCROWDED

POSITIVE IMPACT SCHEME


2015

2017

2031
The money
generated by the
hotel units after
the loan is paid
of can be
invested in
renovation of
other housing
buildings in need.

25

11: Financing lifecycle of the project.

13. Calculations
Havana Vieja is home for 97.000 people.
This makes of 4,6% of Havanas total population.
If Havana as a whole needs to generate 200.000 housing units in order to eradicate the housing
shortage than Havana Vieja needs to generate 9.200 new housing units.

Is there a possibility to fit this number of needed housing units inside the already densely built-up
borders of Havana Vieja?

To calculate this an area of representative 12 city blocks was selected.


By cross-checking the maps of building heights and vacant plots a simplified volumetric model of
that area was created.
13.1 Surface calculations based on a generated model

Each building footprint was multiplied by the amount of floors it has, than the total floor area was
calculated.
1 or 2 floors - 33.763m2 x 1,5 = 50.644m2
3 floors - 6685m2 x 3 = 20.055m2
4 or more floors - 9.061m2 x 5 = 45.305m2
vacant plots - 1.945m2 x 0 = 0m2
Ruins- 1500m2 x 0 = 0m2
sume :

52.954m2

// 116.004m2

13.2 Possible efficienci

Next the existing situation was confronted with the hypothetical model where on average all
the buildings are four floors high.
Now = 116.004m2 = 100%
Everything 4 floors high = 221.816m2 = 182%

26

Next step was to calculate how many new housing units would need to be created in the
boundaries of these 12 test city blocks in order to succeed in building 9.200 new housing units in
Havana VIeja.

Housing area of Havana Vieja = 1.266.100m2 = 97.000 inhabitants


Housing area of the 12 test block = 60.396m2 = 3,4% of Havana Viejas housing area.
9.200 new housing units x 3,4% = 313 new housing units would need to be created in the
boundaries of the analyzed area.
An average of 70m2 for a housing unit was assumed.
313 units * 70m2 = 21.910m2 of additional floor area needed.

If these 12 block would achieve the average of 4 floors than additional (221.816m2 116.004m2) 105.812 m2 of housing area would be generated.

Due to the estimations assuming that 20% of all plot would stay not built-up in order to
provide proper ventilation and 20% of the building floor area will be its circulation this number
decreased to 60% of 105.812m2 giving 64.545m2 of new floor area for housing that could be
generated.
As the calculated area needed is 21.910m2 it is clear thet Havan Vieja can not only generate
the additional 9200 new housing units within its boundaries by achieving the average heights of
building of 4 floors but it would generate three times more are than necessary.
13.3 Financing calculations

As the capital city is the main touristic attraction on the island it was assumed that 90% of
tourists visiting Cuba spend on average two nights in Havana. Its very safe to assume that in 2017
Cuba will be visited by 3.500.000 tourists. One needs to remember that this number most certainly
will dynamically grow much higher in coming years and may boom dramatically if American tourists
will be invited to the island on less restrictive terms (what recent changes in U.S. - Cuba relations
suggest.). This statistically means that on average 17.260 tourists will be in Havana every night for
a full year.

27

To continue the estimation an assumption was made that 33% of tourists visiting the Capitol
City would like to be accommodated in Havana Vieja district. This gives a demand of 5.753 beds in
Havana Vieja alone. Nowadays 600 beadnbreckfast rooms exist in Havana Vieja.
Prices on AirBnB for a room in Havana Vieja vary from 30 - 110$ per night.An average price
of 50$ per person per night was taken. (Feinberg, 2013)

A double room occupied just 50% of the year - 183 days. would generate (183 days x 100$ =
18.300$ / year for a double room - 20% of operational costs (10% for salaries of Cuban tenants and
10% for maintenance costs)) as much as 14.640 $ of yearly income.

An aerial proportion between the housing unit to guest room is proposed to be on


average 3/1. For example a housing unit of 75m2 would be balanced with a hotel unit of 25m2.
13.4 Cost of construction

Cost of construction of 1m2 of social housing in Chile is 500$ and in Belgium its 1500$.
Even if we set an European price of construction 100m2 (75 of housing + 25 of a guest unit) would
cost 150.000$.
150.000/14.640$ = 10 years for the loan to be paid off.
One needs to take into account that workforce on Cuba is much cheaper than in Europe but building
in the old town context is not easy. It may be safe to assume that the price for a m2 in Havana would
at the end be in-between Chilean and Belgian prices what suggests it could cost around a 1000$ for
a m2 what would suggest a seven years long loan pay of time.

These calculations are using many assumptions while always trying to use safe numbers and it is not
unreasonable to say that this financing model has a great chance of being valuable and the loan used
to construct the tenement will be paid off in ten years.

28

12: Model of selected cityblocks for the analysis.


yellow - empty plots / green - ruins

13: Product introduction curve.

29

14. Behaviour of demand


Cuba as a touristic destination is a fresh and demanded product. Every new product behaves
in a partially predictable way which by business theory is depicted on a so called Time curve of a
new product introduction. A demand for a new goods on the market grows until it, at some point
reaches a mature state - its maximum demand after which the demand decreases and in some cases
disappears completely where in others stabilizes on certain figure somewhere below the maximum
demand point. (Living Better Media, 2016)

If one imagines that Cuba would build enough hotels to address and fulfill the maximum
demand that may come in coming years its clear that after the faze of this products maturity, after
the decrease in demand and its stabilization on a lower figure a big number of those hotels would
become empty and unnecessary. This model is not sustainable.
This is why this project proposed a different typology that in an easy and sustainable way
could help Cuba react to the dynamics of the demand curve.

After the demand decrease, casa particular units, woven into the social housing tenements
would be transformed into regular flats for Cubans, again helping to address the existing housing
shortage on the island.
Buildings are designed in such a way that this transformation does not require any structural
nor water, sewage or gas system changes. The transformation is simply done with a rearrangement
of light non- load bearing walls.
Where its possible the design is giving multiple options of how the rearrangement can
happen - sometimes by connecting two or more hotel units a new apartment is created but often also
a possibility of connecting the hotel unit into the existing flat is possible offering tenants a possibility
of expanding their homes.

15. Hotel demand in Havana


How would Havana Vieja look without any typical hotels? If one was to fulfill this demand
only with a use of guest rooms woven into the housing fabric an average of 1,5 tenements with 4
hotel units each would be required.
30

This unusual approach was with success adopted by a Chilean City of Valpariso and one can
see a lot of advantages of those decentralized tactic. Often big in size hotels are destructive for an old
town fabric where dispersed hotel units could be gently integrated with it. The income is spread more
evenly among the society and more workplaces are be created. Tourism stands a chance of being
hidden what would decrease its destructive capabilities. Finally this kind of market is much more
flexible and can react do the dynamics of the fluctuating demand sustainably.

16. Positioning in Havana


The question of a proper location for this kind of typology is also answered through the filters
of realism and necessity. The most touristicly craved accommodation area in Havana due to obvious
reasons of proximity to main interest zones for tourism is the Old Town (Havana Vieja). This makes
it the area where this kind of initiative has the biggest financial probability of succeeding. At the
same time it does correlate with the politic of letting only ceratin type of tourism into the Havana
Vieja fabric. This district was historically the starting point of the capitol city and a main housing
area with the highest density since the beginning. It is the place where the risk of gentrification is the
highest and this kind of typology could contribute to dealing with that issue. At the same time the
level of deterioration of buildings here is the highest what only increases the pressure on building or
restoring housing units to prevent the forced outflow of Havana Viejas inhabitants what would lead
to a great lose of social bonds and social cohesion.
Building in the city is an obvious counter proposal for urban sprawl which negative impact on
the environment and society is proven and well documented on many international cases .

17. Filling the gaps


After a half a century of neglect and financial problems Havana Viejas urban fabric lost a
significant part of its buildings creating many ruins and empty pots. Some of them were spontaneously
occupied by very low density and low quality infills. Those empty plots and disproportionally

31

14: The density of the housing with casa particulares units typology if the whole demand for hotel units in 2016
in central Havana was to be satysfied only with this kind of typology.

32

15: Havana.

33

16: Havana Vieja and the area of proposal.

34

17: Area of the proposal - mappings.

35

low buildings in the Old Town bear a great potential of housing densification, not densification of
inhabitants but housing units. Havana Vieja is already the densest district on the island. The major
problem is the density of inhabitants in proportion to available housing units. Up to ten people live
in rooms previously utilized by one or two. Overcrowding leads to more collapses and the problem
enhances itself.
This project proposes in a first order to build on plots that are empty or occupied by a single
story building and are adjacent to taller buildings. To fulfill the housing shortage and make possible
the decrease of the existing unhealthy density of inhabitants per room in the Old town an average of
3,5 floors among all housing buildings should be achieved.

18. Area of the proposal


The idea explained above is tested by proposing a couple of implementations in a south part
of the Havana Vieja - the area around the Jesus-Maria street. This area is rated the lowest priority by
the OHC and is characterized by abundance of locations that meet the requirements explained in the
chapter Filling the gaps. At the same time residents are known for their strong attachment to the
area and are characterized by Prof.Dr. Han Verschure as eager to create cooperative initiatives and
strong in collective spirit.

19. Housing cooperative


Cuba is strong in cooperatives as this model resenting the core values of the Revolutionary
Cuba. For decades Cubans gathered and created agrar cooperatives. Later on in recent years a nonagrar cooperatives were allowed to exist, and in 2016 a new type of cooperatives will be introduced
- a second level cooperative that would consist of two or more regular cooperatives and together
they will gain a right of import that since the revolution was only a privilege of a national structures.

Cubans in the 1980 were offered cooperatives related to building housing called construction
brigades. The concept was simple, people that needed housing were given a plot on the outskirts
of Havana and supplied a project and materials and built the housing for theme selves. This idea
seemed good but did not foresee how bad in quality the construction will be as it was not executed
by experienced professionals.
36

18: Proposal area in horisontal sections / hights model.

37

19: Some of the possible locations for the design proposal in the chosen area around Jesus-Maria street.

38

39

The proposed project is trying to learn from those lessons and build upon the tradition of
cooperatives. A structure of Housing Cooperative is proposed. All inhabitants of a built tenement
will be a part of a group collectively responsible for taking care for the hotel units and its guests. By
that its meant that they are collectively responsible also for generating the revenue that will pay of
the loan taken to built the tenement itself.
Presence of tourists in the building is creating possibility of income for the residents as they
can offer them services ranging from preparing meals, organizing activities to offering tours around
Havana or even the whole island as guides. To insure the motivation to create the best possible
standard for the guests their presence creates a main income for the tenants. Ten percents of each
rented room will go to the cooperative members pockets - this should create a 80$ monthly income
for each housing unit if a room is occupied every second night (one needs to remember that an
average salary on Cuba is 20$/month).

20. Locality
The project is proposing a solution that will prevent the outflow of original inhabitants
from their long inhabited neighborhoods. In order to achieve this a choice of inhabitants would be
structured as a open-call. After the district defines the localization suitable for this type of social
housing construction, families would apply for a flat. Social workers would analyze the applications
and create a cooperative group of families (where proximity to their original flat and the necessity of
them being moved would be prioritized) that will inhabit the building.
The other possibility is a group of families to come together, create a housing cooperative and
apply for a participation in the program, after what municipality is looking for a plot and assigns a
loan for the construction that later will be paid off by the income from the hotel units.

21. Tenants and guests


Another factor of a high importance in this project is a different relation between Cubans and
tourists that is created than it is usually the case in a typical hotel. Casa particulars is not a hotel nor
a guest room in somebodys house but a formula in between. This significantly changes the way
guests and hosts look at each other. A host is not just a servant like in a hotel and a guest is not just

40

20: collective space

41

a customer but someone that we let into a space that hosts family also uses. The design provides
common leisure and social spaces for both the tenants and tourists where both will treat each other
as equally deserving of that space and as its asset.
Tourists can experience more in-depth the Cuban culture and Cubans wont feel like simple
servants but partners in a exchange of services and money but also stories, daily routine, experiences
and both parties hopefully will get a chance to draw lifes dynamicity and learn from each other at
the same time having available a fully private zone in their rooms or flats.

22. Space negotiation


Due to a magnitude of the Cuban housing crisis the proposed flats cannot offer residents
very high spatial comfort. Flats are planned to be useful and efficient and despite their limited size
offer comfort and privacy. The project proposes to react to that fact by adding terretorial layers to
the housing typology. It is doing it by offering a set of bigger multi-use collective spaces that both
tenants and guest are a part of. Most of the ground floor of each building is an open space with
planted areas where the sun enters threw the inner courtyards. In between them a open kitchen and
living room is planned. Guests can be offered meals there or on the roof trace. Tenants can use this
space on daily bases as well as for special occasion like common tenement meals, fiestas or for
example sport event celebrations which Cubans love to follow. An additional attractive factor is that
the guests would be able to be a part of this space and those activities like is already happening in
many private casas particulares on the island.
At the same time if that space would be used like an extension of each flat a sense of
community will be enhanced and social control of the entrance zone will be created.
A second collective zone is proposed on the roof. In its front part a roof trace with a view on
the panorama of the old town is created. the rest of the roof is designed for the Cuban residents of the
tenement as it includes a common laundry station and an urban farming element.
Urban farming is a phenomenon forced to develop after Soviet Union collapse when Cuba
was in a great crisis where even gas was so hard to buy that transporting food from the rural areas
to the city was not an option. Havana generates most of its food in the city, on empty plots after
collapsed buildings and on open areas of is suburbs.
In order to strengthen this phenomenon the project proposes a zone where tenants can keep
chicken for eggs and some vegetables and herbs for their own use on the roof.
42

23. Emerging business


The front part of the ground floor will be addressing small Cuban emerging private business.
A rooms for rent of 10 to 20 square meters are proposed. In front of them a space for the smallest
scale of business is created addressing street sellers. A simple benches protected from sun and rain
by the canopy of the first floor are provided so that street sellers could prosper in comfort and not to
block already narrow sidewalks of the Old Town. The same benches in the evening after the working
hours will become Cuban favorite social spots where people gather on the sidewalks to play domino.
Offsetting of the front facade on the ground floor from the street in order to provide the space for
these activities enriches the territorial sequence adding a zone where street and domestic activities
mix.

24. Architecture
In order to test the idea a set of possible locations in the chosen neighborhood around JesusMaria street were defined. From those five were chosen to represent the most common situations met
in Havana Vieja context. Prototypes on : a small plot of a front width of only 4,5m, a medium size
plot of a front width of 7m , a big plot of a front width of 10m, a corner plot and a plots joined by
their back borders were created.
24.1 _Ventilation

A very influential factor of the design is the Cuban climate. A proper natural ventilation
allowing for a comfortable conditions inside the building is prioritized. In order to achieve that
buildings are designed along a set of rules formulated in a PhD research of Dr. A. Tablada that
focused on that issue exactly in the context of Havana Vieja. (Tablada,2009)

The following general recommendations are provided:


- Combining a main wide courtyard with smaller secondary courtyards to provide cross
ventilation in rooms that are not directly connected to the street.

43

21: Chosen locations.

44

45

- Providing a ratio of open space inside the plot that is higher than the 15% required by the
present regulations [6], to provide larger possibility to design areas for courtyards.
- Establishing an interconnection between the street and the courtyards and among the
courtyards through a circulation path on ground floor in order to promote ventilation inside the
courtyards and the connected rooms. - The wider courtyards should have a proper solar protection
both on the windows and on the courtyard walls by means of overhangs (permeable to the wind)
or by pergolas. While the narrower courtyards are less exposed to solar radiation in general, solar
protection should be considered for the top floor rooms.
- It is important to keep using louvers/Venetian blinds for the windows at every floor, with
windows that can be opened completely.
In addition to these recommendation all other design elements like staircases and rails are
also designed in a way that will allow maximum air flow threw them.
24.2 _Passive cooling

The ground floor is equipped with generous zones of greenery supplied by rainwater from
the roof. Green zones increase the quality of air and help decrease its temperature. In order to deal
with a very hot climate in Cuba a passive cooling system is introduced. Long pipes sixty and eighty
centimeters in diameter are buried underground at the beginning of the construction two meters under
the street level. The inlets are placed under the benches in the front part of the ground floor. Outlets are
hidden in the green zones. Rising hot air in the patios is going to create an uderpressure that will suck
air through the buried pipes from the street into the patios. Air by flowing underground where all year
long temperatures are stabilized at around fifteen degrees Celsius will cool down and exit in the patios
thereby cooling the building. This system requires no energy impute and requires little maintenance.
24.3 _Handicraft

Project is also responding to the Cuban efforts of cultivating the vanishing skills and knowledge
of crafts, like production of wrought iron railings elements and ornamental ceramic tiles typical for
Cuban architecture by implementing them and building the oramental aestetic based on them. Cubans are
very proud of this heritage and by using those elements a sense of local cohesion and pride is stimulated.

46

23: Freedom of colour usage.

22: Cuban handcraft.

47

24.4 _Materials

Materials chosen for the designs are always materials commonly used in Havana. In order
to minimize complicated contraction works in the Old Town all possible structural elements are
prefabricated. Main structure is made out of prefabricated concrete elements. Buildings are to be
designed with a use of materials common for the area and well known to the local construction
companies in order to grant efficiency and low construction costs.
24.5 _Front facade

Designed buildings are suppose to blend in with the extraordinary fabric of Havana Vieja.
Each building will be designed individually in respect of the existing situation on the plot. If plot is
empty and there are no documented sources of the architecture present on that spot in the past or it
does not represent any heritage worth preserving new designs should create quality and beauty with
respect to the context of the Old Town and create architecture that seamlessly blends in within the
Havana Viejas streetscape.

For example the facade of Prototype 1 is designed to express beauty through well set classical
proportions, finishings arrangement and typical Cuban handcrafted details. Facades only gently
reinterpret the classical ornamental facade of a tenement building so common on Cuba in a style
brought to the island by Spanish colonialism. Most of these facades are constructed with a use
of masonry, covered with stucco and painted with very vivid colours, often creating unbelievable
adjacencies among neighbouring buildings. Projects is only gently changing the perception of the
facade by exposing parts of the brickwork on every floor. This small gesture is inspired by a technique
of renovating old furniture that with a use of simple paint applied only partially on the legs of a chair
or a table change its image in an interesting way. Depending on the proportion between the exposed
brickwork and the painted part of the facade very different effects are created.

48

24.6 _Color

The freedom with which Cubans use color is extraordinary. Project does not try to mimic
that, it only specifies the area of the facade to be painted but the choice of the color will be left to the
housing cooperative that will inhabit that space. In Cuban sun and with the quality of paint available
on the island the painting process is repeated very often and gives a possibility of quite regular
changes which this project treats as an asset.
24.7 _Roof

The roof is finished with light colored tiling to maximize the sunlight reflection and prevent
overheating of flats on the last floor.
24.8 _Patios

Patios and light wells are designed in order to not only insure the necessary air circulation and
light access but also (especially in the biggest proposal) to zone the space in a way that allows for
efficient separation between flats and hotel units in couple different arrangements.
24.9 _Plans

Buildings are designed to be as simple and efficient as possible and at the same time create
multiple different interpretations of each floor. For example each level of the biggest proposal can
consist of one of following setups :
- two hotel units and two flats for 2+2 family,
- four hotel units and two family hotel units (two bedrooms with a sheared bathroom)
-one hotel unit, one flat for 2+2 family and one flat for 2+4 or 2+2+3 family,
-one hotel unit, one family hotel unit, and two flats for 2+2 family,
-two flats for 2+4 or 2+2+3 family.
The change requires only a rearrangement of separating walls. Structural elements and
technical shafts are placed in a way that foresees those changes and creates a variety of available
solutions.
49

24.10 _Floor height

In contrary to some historical buildings in Havana that exhibit different floor heights, what is
a relic of a class based society and design process, where the owner and his family lived on a story
with luxurious highs of 4 to 5,5m but the servants were located on the less properly ventilated floor
with 2,5-4m room heights this project understanding values of equality cultivated on the island since
the revolution is proposing equal 3,7m floor heights. This is a sufficient dimension allowing for
ventilation comfort in hot Cuban climate.
24.11 _Street and the building

First floor is pushed back according to the front facade in order to provide space for a shaded
benches. Havana Viejas sidewalks are very narrow ranging from 80cm to 120cm. The bench can
during the day be used by street sellers and in the evening by tenants. This decision also helps
to spatially distinguish the ground floor from the upper levels highlighting its different character.

25. Process of emerging - cooperative design process


First, on a base of the list of people awaiting for a housing unit municipality is to define an
area that requires this kind of intervention the most. After that suitable locations for a new housing
building are cataloged by the OHC.

Afterwards on each location an estimatory project that defines the structure, placement of
patios, shafts and circulation is prepared by an architect. This project is a base for defining the
number of people a given plot can house and a size of a loan needed for its construction.
Next a call for participants in a housing cooperative in the area is introduced by municipality.
On a base of received applications a suitable amounts of people from a local area are grouped into
housing cooperatives with help of social workers.

Afterwards based on the estimatory project a detailed design of flats is created in a cooperation
with each future tenant, where architect is not a decision maker but an advisor. This step is introduced
in order to engage future tenants in the design process by what tenants will identify with the project
50

strongly. Moreover in that way more personalized apartment plans can be created. This decision
emerges from a believe that no forced decision about ones home will prevail against tenets wish. At
the same time the cooperation between the architect and future tenants is to be educational for both
parties where tenants can follow professional advices and an architect gets to understand tenants
needs in more depth what will lead to a better design.

All crucial and fully permanent elements of the building are designed by an architect and his
or her decision will shape the frame in which a set of personalized infills are placed. An architect
is fully responsible for the design of the main structure, circulation, placement of patios, technical
shafts and the design of the front facade.

This stage of the construction will lead to creation of a emergent inner facades in the patios. As
every tenant is finally responsible for his/her own flat design and construction the formal outcome
of the inner facades will be emergent. This possibility of expression that each tenant is granted
will help them to identify with the project and hopefully create unexpected adjacencies of shapes,
material and colors, so abundant in and typical for Cuban streetscape.
As a result a duality of facade expressions between the front and inner facades of the building
will appear and hopefully distinguish the representative front from the more introvert, domestic
collective courtyards.

When construction begins solid parts of the building designed by an architect (main
structure, technical shaft, circulation and the front facade) are constructed by a commissioned
construction company in order to grant and control its satisfactory efficiency, quality and paste.
Afterwards each tenant assigned a proportional part of the bugged and becomes responsible
for the construction of its personalized infill consisting of his or her flats walls and interiors and the
corresponding number of hotel units. One needs to hire people to execute this task.

This is a very important part of the proposed development model. This model is not only
focusing on how to generate money in order to be able to build in Cuba, but also how to spend it.
The shift of responsibility for the execution of the flats from the architect and the main construction
company to the tenants will activate smaller possibly private service providers from bricklayers,
51

24: Process of emerging

52

25: Guidelines

53

54

electricians and plumbers to interior designers that tenants will need to hire and allow money to
trickle down into wider group of professionals empowering the emerging young Cuban private
sector.
Finally when the construction process is finished tenants can move in and guest rooms
registered in the casa particular system can start to generate the money necessary to provide for the
tenants and paying off of the loan.

26. Prototypes
In order to check the development model five prototypes were designed were each one
represents different type common situations:

Prototype 1 - a typical Old Town plot with of 10m of front access to the street. Existing
buildings on that plot are in a very bad shape. Additionally these buildings are only one-story
high, exhibiting very low housing density. New design proposes higher density and due a lack of
architectural heritage worth preserving also new front facade.
Prototype 2 - a typical Old Town plot with of 7m of front access to the street.
Building existing on that plot is in a good shape but is only one-story high, exhibiting very low
housing density. New design proposes higher density and due to presence of existing architectural
heritage to respect it and design the facade possibly based on the historical records or if such do not
exist in cohesion with the existing part.
Prototype 3 - a typical Old Town plot with of 4,5m of front access to the street. Existing
building on that plot is in bad shape. Additionally it is only one-story high, exhibiting very low
housing density.
Prototype 4 - a corner plot. Plot is free, only with rubble and partial remains of a building
from the past occupying it.
Prototype 5 - a situation in which two plots are connected witch one another with their back
borders, when joined creating a long plot with a possibility of connecting two parallel streets.
This setting allows for more complex territorial sequence in the ground floor where second
row of business premises and deeper public permeability is created. Collective zones in the ground
floor from both buildings are joined creating one generous collective area with a central patio.

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27. Prototype 1

Street: Jesus Maria


Plot: 230m2
Housing+Guestrooms: 460m2
Colective: 420m2
Business: 45m2

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57

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section

possible zoning

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61

62

front facade

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28. Prototype 2
Street: Jesus Maria 
Plot: 115m2
Housing+Guestrooms: 280m2
Collective: 170m2
Business: 25m2

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section

possible zoning

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29. Prototype 3
Street: Jesus Maria
Plot: 90m2
Housing+Guestrooms: 183m2
Collective: 120m2
Business: 10m2

section

possible zoning

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30. Prototype 4
Street: Acosta I Cuba
Plot: 125m2
Housing+Guestrooms: 220m2
Collective: 180m2
Business: 50m2

section

possible zoning

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31. Prototype 5
Street: Habana I Damas 
Plot: 375m2
Housing+Guestrooms: 700m2
Collective: 460m2
Business: 120m2

possible zoning

section
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32. Second intervention


In order to successfully create a district resilient to the negative impact of gentrification only
preventing the outflow of original inhabitants from the area is not enough. It is a very important step
that needs to be addressed however if Havana Vieja is to be a place where life of common inhabitants
is possible a set of additional elements need to exist.
First the sector of social institutions need to be provided, like hospitals, schools and elderly
houses. This is successfully executed by the persistent efforts of OCH that already built a significant
amount of them in Havana Vieja.
Another element necessary in Haviana Vieja is business. However not any kind of economic
activity. There is a lot of restaurants, travelling agencies, bars and shops already but great majority
of them address only the touristic demand. This allows them to set high prices for their services and
almost fully excludes common Cubans from being able to enjoy the services they offer. A lot of these
places are also owned by people that do not live in Havana Vieja or even Cuba.
Through the first intervention Havana Vieja inhabitants will be provided with housing and
income. If despite high prices for services in the Old Town they would spend that money in the
business that dominates this district the money will immediately leave this area again. Havana Vieja
needs an inner non-touristic economy, that would not only be affordable but also would help to
distribute the money brought by tourists among a bigger part of the society, not only among people
working in or owning businesses addressing touristic demands.
Cepellia is a popular nationally governed chain of ice-cream bars. In hot days hour long
queues are lining up to its doors in every major city of Cuba. Ice-cream sold there are not only tasty
but also very affordable, but only for Cubans. Bars offer two different pricing methods, one for Cubans and one for tourists, where the Cuban price is simply multiplied by a factor of 24 if a desert is
ordered by a tourist.
This example unfortunately will not be treated as a repetitive model for private businesses.
Additionally there are a lot of services needed in the city that will simply never attract tourists.
Accountants, designers, lawyers, print shops, locksmiths, hairdressers or just shops with products
that simply do not interest tourists. Since the introduction of the laws allowing for a portion of the
economy to be created by self-employed sector of small private business initiatives, many services
are often offered by self-employed Cubans. However situation in Havana Vieja and other areas dom79

inated by touristic demand is very hard for them. Due to the possibility of earning disproportionally
bigger money by creating tourist oriented business, prices of rental spaces in Havana Vieja are not
affordable and prevent this district from developing its inner non-touristic economy.
It will be truly destructive if in coming years, despite the affords of providing housing for
people in Havana Vieja and not allowing for the forces of gentrification to push them to the outskirts
of the city, this district would not provide anything but housing and social institutions for their inhabitants. District is not complete without offering its inhabitants affordable leisure, grocery shops
and other everyday services like ones described above.
Access to food is also regulated by the nationally owned shops what leaves the sector of small
private businesses as the least accessible in Havana Vieja.
Self-employed Cubans cannot individually afford to rent spaces in this districts, because of
what their potential for growth is blocked.
Paradoxically there is no shortage of such spaces in the Old Town, they are just not affordable
for non-touristic businesses.
The faith of emerging private economy in Cuba is very important for its future.
In the face of high land and rental prices in Havana Vieja individual investments of nontouristic businesses are simply very hard. However there might be room for cooperative affords
of self-employed Cubans. Combined budgets of many small businesses may create one sufficient
enough to rent or create spaces for non-touristic economy in Havana Vieja. In New York in 2010 a
project called WeWork was set in motion. WeWork is an American company which provides shared
workspace, community, and services for entrepreneurs, freelancers, startups and small businesses.
Today WeWork has 54 co-working locations across the U.S., Europe and Israel.
Similar to that example a co-working space may be possible to create in Havana Vieja if a
sufficient number of private participants would join it.
Based on this idea a sixth architectural prototype was created.

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32.1 Architecture

Its a simple and modest building providing open space work area, collective lunch zone,
meeting rooms and ground floor accusable from the street that will allow for promotion of each business participants service or product. All the accompanying functions like the kitchen and bathrooms
are incorporated in the centrally placed staircase finished with ornamental ceramic tiles. Structure
of the building is created using simple prefab concrete elements : columns, beams and hollow slabs.
Central light well apart from providing light to the back part of the building is also responsible for providing cross ventilation and cooling. Passive cooling method similar to one used in social
housing is provided . Additionally movable fabric shading screens are provided in the central open
space. In very hot periods the fabric can be sprinkled with water from a simple sprinkling system
installed above it in the skylights structure and with a use of evaporative cooling effect, decrease the
air temperature in the building. Skylight is elevated from the roof on a wooden structure in order to
allow for the hot air to freely escape the building.
Facades are designed as modest and simple relating to many buildings in Havana Vieja that
were built before the revolution by investors with modest budgets giving the building a simple and
humane appeal.

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33. Personal Reflection


Development of this project started in 2015 with an on-site research. Seven week long field work turned
out to be more demanding than expected. Both physically and mentally. Apart from very high temperatures,
luck of access to proper medical support (what unfortunately made my life a bit harsh) and other everyday difficulties me and other research participants -Aaron Swartjes, Antonio Boeri, Marija Armonaite, Vytautas Lelys,
Virginia Stammitti and Guillaume Van Hees were confronted with a reality alien to the one we recognize. Different in ways we did not expect. Different in ways hard to describe. This feeling of being an obvious strangers
made one of the most difficult obstacles between me and the aim of the journey itself. This feeling only gained
power when fueled with great openness and enthusiasm of many local people. Not a kind of enthusiasm one is
welcomed with in the touristic destinations, because our work focused on a district far from the typical touristic
routs of the capitol city, but different ones. Ranging from desperate call for help from a woman whose old and
beautiful but rotting house was ankle-deep in water due to a damaged water pipe that run under her house but
as she was one of a few private owners of a property in the district, municipality did not care to help her. On
the other hand we met many Cubans who we became friends with and they were kind enough to show us their
ways and places. Many other were simply genuinely kind, open and very helpful. It simply all boils down to
people. One can be fascinated by the extraordinary colonial architecture, vintage cars and haunting ruins only
for a while. Maybe that is why among all, the colours of those cars and buildings felt the most touching to me.
I feel there is a strong connection between the colours of Havana and its people. Cubans use colour everywhere
and all the time. It is all they can afford and in some sense becomes in my opinion a good metaphor for their
everyday struggle. The way they use paint seems personal. Paint is very low quality, it quickly fades out in
the burning tropical sun and only temporarily covers crumbling streetscapes with vivid colours and amazing
playfulness.
Throughout the last 10 months of developing this project I tried not to let go of that feeling.
I found myself very confused many times, entangled in Cubas dramatic history, contradicting world
views and opinions and misleading political jargon.
This is why I decided to strive for a design that will empower individuals and stimulate cooperation, that
simply helps to restore everyday dignity of common Cubans. However, again this last sentence sounds like an
echo of a regime speech from 1959 and spirals me right back to a state of confusion.
I like the saying that all we need is to be kind and useful. I hope this project is not less and not more
than exactly that kind and useful.

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34. End note


I want to thank the following institutions for supporting this project:

KU Leuven, Faculty of Architecture, Campus Sint-Lucas Gent


Streetscape Territories
VLIR-UOS
Cujae Jose Antonio Echeverria Higher Polytechnic Institute

Finally, I would like to thank my tutor - Kris Scheerlinck


whose great expertise and guidance, work ethics and spirit
made the development of this project into a great lesson and pleasure.

June, 2016
Iwo Borkowicz

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35. References

Achtenberg E., 2013, Gentrification in Cuba? The Contradictions of Old Havana, NACLA
Archibold C. & Hirschfeld J., 2014 Cuba to Be Removed From U.S. List of Nations That Sponsor Terrorism, The New York Times
Berdini Valerio, 2015, The Wi-Fi hotspots revolutionising Havana park life in pictures , The Guardian
Coyula Mario, 1997, Havana Forever, Forever Havana
Del Toro Natasha, 2007, Before the Revolution Socialites and celebrities flocked to Cuba in the 1950s,
SmithsonianMag.
Disch & Brunken, 2007, Public Housing in Havana - History of Ideas, ETH Studio, Basel
Feinberg Richard, 2013, Soft Landing in Cuba? Emerging Entrepreneurs and Middle Classes , Brookings
Fontova Humberto, 2015, Historians Have Absolved Fidel Castro, History News Network.
Hunt Nigel, 2016 , casaparticular.com
Leroy Thomas , 2014 , Cubas fast growing private sector., equaltimes.org
Living Better Media, 2016, productlifecyclestages.com
Manhart Sebastian, 2013, What did Fidel Castros Cuban Revolution promise to the people of Cuba?,
Quora.com
Miguel Alejandro Figueras, 2003, International Tourism and the Formation of Productive Clusters in the
Cuban Economy.
PDHL, Programa de Desarrollo Humano Local , 2000, Caracterizacin y prioridades del Municipio de La
Habana Vieja: Lneas Directrices para la III Fase del Programa de Desarrollo Humano Local, Cuba.
Rodriguez Andrea, 2014, Cubas Housing Crisis Worsens, Huffington Post
Sehgal Kabir, 2016, Why You Should Invest in Cuba -- And How to Do It , The Street
Stasiski Maciej, 2014, Diabe umiera w Havanie, Warsaw, Agora SA
Tablada A. , 2009, On natural ventilation and thermal comfort in compact urban environments the Old
Havana case , Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
Winston S., 2014, Opening Cuba Means a Boom for New Resort Properties, World Property Journal

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36. Figure list

Figure1

Havana, street scene, by Iwo Borkowicz

Figure2

Havana, El Cerro, street scene, by Iwo Borkowicz

Figure3

Havana in pictures, by Iwo Borkowicz

Figure4

Havana 1940.http://1.mshcdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Before-Castro-18.jpg 7

Figure5

Marching revolutionists. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/CheLaCoubreMarch.jpg 7

Figure6

Raul Castro and Barack Obama.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f6/Handshake_between_the_Presi-

dent_and_Cuban_President_Ra%C3%BAl_Castro.jpg 11

Figure7

Growing tourisic demand. http://upload.wikipedia.org/wikipedia/common/f/g5/graph_tourists_cuba.jpg 16

Figure8

Guesthouse https://c1.staticflickr.com/8/7102/7277560416_dfabd526da_b.jpg 16

Figure9

View on El Cerro district and Havana bay, by Iwo Borkowicz

20

Figure10

Possible future scenarios of an urban gap in Havana Vieja, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure11

Financing lifecycle of the project, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure12

Model of selected cityblocks for the analysis, by Iwo Borkowicz

29

Figure13

Product introduction curve, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure14

The density of the housing with casa particulares units typology, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure15

Havana, by CUJAE

33

Figure16

Havana Vieja and the area of proposal, by CUJAE / by Iwo Borkowicz

34

Figure17

Area of the proposal - mappings, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure18

Proposal area in horisontal sections / hights model, by Iwo Borkowicz

37

Figure19

Some of the possible locations for the design proposal in the chosen area around
Jesus-Maria street, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure20

Collective space, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure21

Chosen locations, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure22

Freedom of colour usage, by Iwo Borkowicz and Oskar Stefaski

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Figure23

Cuban handcraft, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure24

Process of emerging, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure25

Guidelines, by Iwo Borkowicz

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Figure26

All grafical content of chapter 26 and 27, by Iwo Borkowicz

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