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Modernism in Havana
The skyline of Havana with the Edifico FOCSA (1956), the
red towers of
the Hotel Nacional (1930, McKim, Mead and White), the Sommeillan tower
and, at the right hand side, the American embassy by Harrison (see also
the United Nations Headquarters in New York) and Abramovitz (1953).
The photograph at your left shows a splendid sky-scraper at the very
beginning
of the Malecón. Mosaic stones in blue and green symbolize
the sea and the sky, representing gulfs and seabirds.
A humble building in the Avenida Bélgica.
Solymar by architect Manuel Copado is a unique apartment
building dating
from 1944 with beautiful balconies, showing a great optical effect.
On the Avenida de las Misiones you will find this building
with a concrete
brise-soleil.
Malecón high-rise (Old Havana).
The Edifio Sommeillan and a unknown green apartment
building (Calle 23),
caught from the Hotel Nacional gardens.
A sky-scraper along the Avenida de los Presidentes.
The Edificio FOCSA is a brutal sky-scraper with 39
stories. It was
built between 1954 and 1956. The tower has 375 apartements and is
clearly a city within the city. A parking garage for 500 cars is
situated in the sockle. When finished, it was one of the largest
buildings in the world. FOCSA is an abbreviation for Fomento de
Obras
y Construcciones, S.A. and the architects were Ernesto Gomez Sampera
and
Martin Dominguez. While the tower tries to give a maximum of
comfort
to its inhabitants, the surrounding neighbourhood is suffering from its
impact. On the foreground the Centro
Deportivo
José Martí.
The FOCSA-tower and the Sommeillan tower.
A view on the Avenida Linea (Vedado).
Skyline with on the foreground the Malecón-parapet.
The Russian embassy in Miramar (Calle 62#64) has the looks
of a concrete
robot and was only built in the late eighties.
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