{"id":298484,"date":"2024-03-21T12:34:29","date_gmt":"2024-03-21T16:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/?p=298484"},"modified":"2024-03-21T12:34:29","modified_gmt":"2024-03-21T16:34:29","slug":"a-long-battle-in-favor-of-independent-cuban-architecture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/oncubanews.com\/en\/opinion\/a-long-battle-in-favor-of-independent-cuban-architecture\/","title":{"rendered":"A long battle in favor of independent Cuban architecture"},"content":{"rendered":"

On the occasion of the architect\u2019s day being celebrated in Cuba on March 13, the date on which the College of Architects of Havana was established in 1916 and on which, 41 years later, the architecture student Jos\u00e9 Antonio Echeverr\u00eda was murdered by the Batista police, numerous cultural activities have been carried out aimed at recovering the marginal role that architectural activity has been receiving in the country.<\/span><\/p>\n

Talking about architecture is not only discussing the value of the projected or built work, but also reflecting on the conditions in which this practice is carried out. Who projects, how, for what, for whom? Under what conditions is it carried out in Cuba today? Are these the same when the client is the State or the private sector? There are many reflections that we owe ourselves.<\/span><\/p>\n

There is no doubt that the decision to authorize the free sale of homes in 2011 changed the panorama in Cuban cities. From there, the real estate market emerged and increased sharply, a growing demand for architectural projects for renovations and construction rehabilitations began to be expressed, and the so-called architecture studios began to multiply, created mostly by young graduates, without clear legal coverage, but they were becoming more and more organized.<\/span><\/p>\n

Already in February 2018, a Facebook page appeared in the name of Group of Cuban Architecture Studios (GECA, <\/span>Grupo de Estudios Cubanos de Arquitectura<\/span><\/a>) and the following year a base section was established in the UNAICC (National Union of Architects and Construction Engineers) in order to institutionally cover in some way the growing activity of these studios.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In July 2020, the Ministry of Economy and Planning (MEP) announced an immediate reorganization of the private sector\u2014 timidly baptized as a \u201cresizing of the non-state sector\u201d \u2014which created great expectations about the possibility of finally independently practicing professionally. The announcement that the list of permitted activities would be revised to limit it to only prohibited activities raised hopes even further.<\/span><\/p>\n

Letters began to be addressed to the President of the Republic and the Minister of Construction requesting recognition of independent practice (with respect to state enterprises) and in February 2021 the Minister of Construction summoned a group of GECA representatives to hear what they presented.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two months later, and against all odds, at the 8th Congress of the Communist Party the Report to the Central Committee was read where it was stated verbatim:<\/span><\/p>\n

Without even having implemented this important decision, the private practice of some professions has been demanded while the others are not allowed. It would seem that selfishness, greed and the desire for higher incomes provoke in some people the desire to begin a privatization process that would sweep away the foundations and essences of the socialist society built over more than six decades. Along these lines, in a short time the national education and public health systems would also be dismantled, both free and universally accessible to all Cubans.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In effect, four months later, in August of that year, <\/span>Decree 49 on unauthorized activities<\/span><\/a> was published, which explicitly prohibited the non-state exercise of professional activities related to architecture and engineering.<\/span><\/p>\n

The conflict between the enormous accumulated demand for architecture and its prohibition was evident. It was clear that the Revolution\u2019s commitment to solving the housing problem had not been achieved.<\/span><\/p>\n

In its most recent effort to resolve it, the Ministry of Construction (MICONS) had proposed a housing construction program since 2018, which aspired to build more than half a million new homes in ten years and also committed to rehabilitating more than 400,000.<\/span><\/p>\n

The actual results to date are devastating: after six years only around half of what was planned has been built and in the state sector compliance does not even reach 25% of the plan in the last year.<\/span><\/p>\n

This allows us to assume that a good part of the solution will have to continue to be assumed by the families themselves, who will require a specific architectural project. The response may not consist of the typical projects of large standardized and repetitive plans for new housing but rather individualized construction actions and, above all, rehabilitation.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Photo: Kaloian.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As if that were not enough, private economic activity often requires adaptations and remodeling of premises to carry out its productive or service activity and this also requires specific projects.<\/span><\/p>\n

Concerned and occupied by this contradiction, in the aforementioned meeting in February 2021, the basis of the claims organized into six main points was presented to the Ministry of Construction:<\/span><\/p>\n