andamios
When I visited Havana in 2000 I was fascinated by the andaminos, the scaffolding that populated the city, particularly in old Havana. Locals then used to call Havana “La Ciudad de San Lázaro” (St. Lazarus’ City), because of all the crutches supporting its buildings preventing them from falling. Behind this ruinous reality hid the barbacoas, which for many were but a continuation of the rotting condition of the city. I take issue with this interpretation and instead think they represent not a decaying city but on the contrary manifest a force of growth and vitality.
barbacoas on fire
In 2000 I became interested in contemporary vernacular building practices in Havana, Cuba, known as barbacoas. Since then I have been slowly researching them and developing a theoretical position on these experiences. One can find these types of interventions just about anywhere in the world. I’m interest in the Cuban case because these are set within a Socialist context were the idea of “proper housing” is a right guaranteed under the 1976 Constitution. The first opportunity I had to present my research in Cuba, was at the 2002 International Architecture Biennial . There I presented some initial theoretical positions that attempted to circumscribed these structures within contemporary forms of expression/resistance. This presentation got picked up in La Jiribilla, and I published it in essay form under the title: Huecos: discursos y prácticas espaciales en la Habana in Pasajes de Arquitectura y Crítica (Madrid, 2002). A year later, I had the opportunity to present this research at the Import/Export: Latin American Urbanities International Conference at Harvard University. A revised version titled: “Ingrown Disorders: the barbacoa structures and the interior city of Havana,” appeared in AULA/ Architecture and Urbanism in La Americas (2003). In 2005 I was involved in building a barbacoa. I presented this experience at the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture (ACSA) International Conference in Mexico City (proceedings), the Royal College of Art, London and at the Camp for Oppositional Architecture in Berlin. In 2008, in collaboration with Anthropologist Anna Cristina Pertierra, I wrote a piece published in Buildings & Landscapes/The Journal of the Vernacular Architecture Forum. I continue to engage this important question, and remain committed to this research.
One of the primary objectives of the program of the Cuban Revolution was to solve once and for all the housing problem in Cuba. To attain this goal the Revolution established a series of laws and institutions that, through the early convulsive period of the Revolution (also known as the “Heroic Period”), would change and transform until their final solidification and bureaucratization in the 1970s. In this early period the Revolution fomented local organizations and grassroots practices that would mark and condition the housing question and would survive its subsequent institutionalization.
on Caracas
To Ignore or to Integrate, on the barrios of Caracas
in Harvard Design Magazine Summer 1999, by, David Gouverneur and Oscar Grauer
Notes and Comments:
-dual environments: for Caracas the first environment is the “large modern city of high-rise buildings and elevated expressways.”
-intermingling with the city in spite of “poor service provision to them and their physicl segregation.”
-most barrios/favelas are “out of sight.” In Caracas they are clearly visible, “they constitute a major feature of the city’s landscape.”
in havana the barbacoas perform a new invisility
-products of rural migrants in search for a better economic conditions/prospect of jobs.
-built on lands long unclaimed and unwanted, “in areas that zoning and building codes have deemed inaccessible.”
zoning issues in havana will have to be explored; the “barrios,” perform a brilliant discovery of space–unregulated space–thus imposing a new code on it; these zones of unregulated space are part of the capitalist city with its seeminly singular and homogenous code i.e. “property,” yet they perform as fluctuating regulations, due to implementation; does the socialist city start at a homogeneous and singular code?
-”the barrios are to large and well settled to be dismissed as marginal.”
Positive Aspects:
-”closeness to the major urban center.”
-”dynamic informal real-estate market, in which ownership of land is not particularly relevant, but homes are continually rented and sold, as well as improved by residents, following their own informal, legally unbinding rules.”
-location is important, homes closer to the main roads “and to the main areas of the city, tend to reach higher degrees of consolidation, have a higher market value, are usually safer, and more frequently incorporate commercial uses, light manufacturing, and service industries.”
-strong sense of place and belonging
-clear definition of public space
-culturally fitting
-tight social networks
-dynamic and self improving networks, “positively affecting housing stock, infrastructure, service provision, market value and social stability.”
-a way of life
Negative Aspects:
-lack of infrastructure due to “adverse layout and terrain.”
-lack of community and public services.
-large barrios form “continuous informal areas. They are cities within the city.”
-”the topography and the intricate network of pedestrian paths act as physical and psychological barriers.”
-self contained enclaves, “closed enclaves as high-income gated communities.”
Building Notes:
-an important aspect is their growth, from cardboard and tin shacks into “reinforced concrete structures with brick walls.”
-”as homes consolidate they grow upwards,” incorporating rooms for extended families or to rent and sell.
-their rustic appearance is improved with time through vernacular vocabularies, like barred windows, verandas and bright colors.
-location becomes part of the consolidation process.
-”The barrios… have a remarkable ability to grow, adapt and provide shelter to more people than the formal sector. However, even though the barrios perform well at a samll scale–allowing communities to build their own environment tailored to their particular cultural values and financial possibilities–they do not perform well at the metropolitan scale. If left alone, over congestion, health problems, crime, the risk of landslides, and social segregation will certainly overwhelm them.”
It is to be noted that the authors consider the barrios as “small scale,” when at the same time they state that these are ” a major feature of the city’s landscape.” The confrontation between both “cities” is evident. Also, their improvement strategy recalls CIAM’s discourse on the colonial Latin American city.
Improvement Strategies
-”Up until 1987, maps of cities in Venezuela did not show their barrios, and green open spaces were drawn in their places. After maps began to show their barrios, a formalizing process go under way in which squatter settlements finally had access to formal sector funding and improvement programs.”
see Marjetica Potrc for this observation
also see comparative map entry go to map
-”true improvement for the barrios requires a comprehensive approach… to assure physical and functional integration.” “This means… carving out spaces to open up streets within restricted barrios…”
see Baron Haussman
-”deficit of intermediate and metropolitan wide services, and the lack of water supply and of major roadway links, especially in relation to formal citywide systems.”