The Collapse of the Havana Design Institute Building
Much of the Design Institute building exterior wall collapsed towards San Carlos Street in Central Havana.
HAVANA TIMES – The building of the Higher Institute of Design (ISDi) in Central Havana suffered another collapse this Friday, this time of the exterior. The news was posted on Facebook by Yosvelito Danielito, a neighbor, who published images of the accident, which occurred shortly after two in the afternoon. Subsequently, it was picked up by the official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso.
Although “no victims are reported,” Alonso says that “a 78-year-old lady” had to be evacuated. In addition, he specified that four families do not have access to their homes after the collapse. “Construction companies are working on site to remove approximately 800 cubic meters of debris,” he posted.
In the images shared on social networks, much of the exterior wall of the building can be seen falling toward San Carlos Street, in addition to Belascoaín, Maloja and Enrique Barnet Streets. That road had been closed to vehicles for some time precisely because of the bad state of the ISDi, not only interrupting the traffic but also affecting the families, who had to walk through a narrow passage to get to the sidewalk.
Likewise, in videos shared on social networks, one can see how the debris expands to the building across the street, so that its residents now cannot leave their homes.
This collapse is added to others that the building had already suffered before, in the back area and inside. The latter happened last July. Then, with a few days to go to finish the ISDi classes, the authorities suspended them and informed that from now on they would be given at a distance.
Since mid-2022, an area of the center’s headquarters was propped up and closed, but this Tuesday it couldn’t take it anymore. Access to the building was prohibited “until further notice.”
In March 2022, the institution explained in a statement the problems that existed with the headquarters. “The property has a complicated architectural fault. Teaching activities have been developed in other spaces of the UH (University of Havana) momentarily. The training of Cuban designers has not stopped,” he said.
“Uncertainty is overshadowing trust. The Revolution founded the universities and always stood by them. The country’s management maintains its commitment and recognition for our ISDi, the design school in Cuba that gives and contributes so much. We must fight and trust. The lack of a physical place should not overshadow our creative will,” said the statement issued then, in which it was announced that classrooms would reopen in “solidarity spaces of different faculties of the University of Havana.”
Among the comments to that announcement stood out the extensive text left by the architect Lourdes Martí, who was, together with Iván Espín, the creator of the ISDi and its rector until mid-1989. In it, he told how the center was founded in a house in Miramar and a year later, in 1985, he moved to the current building, in Belascoaín between Estrella and Maloja. “A remodeling was started in the area where the workshops would be located on the first floor, and a general repair. Although it was not really in such bad condition, its completion took a long time,” he said, while regretting the lack of interest of the authorities.
“What happened during those last 33 years? Was it never been maintained again? What architectural flaw is there that does not allow the recovery of the building or part of the building? Do you want to destroy the building and eliminate the training of Industrial and Information Designers? Are we witnessing the end of the country’s industrial development?” he asked.
A user then thanked the school’s clarification with a simple: “Thank you, maybe it will end up as a hotel.” The ISDi itself responded by stating that they were trying to “recover that great building,” but the truth is that, according to the students, only a few areas were open, and they were prohibited from entering most of them.
The area where the building is located, far from the historic center of the Cuban capital, which has more tourists, and the modern neighborhood of El Vedado, with hotels and ministries, is suffering a profound process of deterioration in its buildings. Decades of lack of maintenance and erosion, a product of the proximity of the sea, hurricanes and overcrowding, have turned that area into a sequence of broken balconies, cracked columns and collapsed old buildings. Walking through the neighborhood has become a danger for pedestrians.
Translated by Regina Anavy for Translating Cuba.