Prefabricated Buildings in Nuevo Vedado, Havana
Photo Feature by Ernesto Gonzalez Diaz
HAVANA TIMES – South of Havana’s Plaza de la Revolución, in the neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, several buildings were constructed in the 1980s using the IMS prefabricated system. Among all the prefabricated systems used in Cuba after the 1959 revolution, which came from the extinct socialist bloc, the IMS system allowed the greatest freedom in projects. IMS stands for the Institute for Materials Practice of Serbia, where this system was developed.
These are twelve, eighteen, or twenty-five-story buildings, very functional, with apartments that, despite being small, are much more comfortable than those built with other prefabricated systems of the time, such as the Gran Panel, which is common in Alamar to the east of Havana, the E-14, E-15, etc.
Buildings with this system were constructed in various parts of Havana, such as the Esquina de Tejas in Cerro, the corner of 100th and Vento streets in Altahabana to the south of the city, in Alamar, and elsewhere. However, it was in Nuevo Vedado where the largest number of them were built. A plant was even installed to produce the different components of the building, such as slabs, panels, and columns, to shorten the distance from the place of production to the construction site. Also, in the provincial capitals, some buildings were constructed with this system, which have stood the test of time very well.
