[INSTITUTIONS] ARCH 552

This studio section will focus on reimagining future possibilities to the U.S. Embassy in Havana (Cuba). The building designed by the architects Harrison and Abramovitz was completed in 1952. Overlooking the Gulf of Mexico on the Malecon, was built using foreign concrete clad in Italian travertine with green tinted windows to resist the sun. The building was criticized as too conspicuous, part of a legacy of modern embassies and consulates commissioned by the U.S. State Department. A relic of Washington's post-WWII bid which used architecture to project an image of a triumphant and dynamic superpower. An idyllic representation that was far from reality. After the Havana diplomatic mission opened in 1953, the U.S. used it for just eight years, until 1961 when President Eisenhower broke off relations with the government of Fidel Castro over Cuban accusations that the embassy was a U.S. espionage base.

From this fascinating point of departure, and in a time where the Biden administration announced measures that partially reversed Trump’s policies towards Cuba, students will propose designs for a more versatile institution at a delicate time of transition between Cuba and U.S. relationships. How can a representational role facilitate connections between the two countries, towards an effort of rebuilding economy, dialogue and understanding? Is it possible a foreign acceptance of American architecture or foreign acceptance of America? Can we revert the dissatisfaction with design or a more fundamental ambivalence about the diplomatic mission?