古巴的艺术学校

发布于：2023-06-01 10:07:06

AD Classics: The National Art Schools of Cuba / Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti

位置：古巴

分类：学校

内容：实景照片

图片：63张

景观设计：Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti and Robert Gattardi
图片来源：Adrián Guerra Rey via places.designobserver.com, John

“古巴的学术建筑堪称世界上最美的建筑。”——Fidel Castro (1961)。古巴的学校建筑风格，最初由1961年Fidel Castro 和 Che Guevara一同构想而成，堪称古巴革命在建筑上取得的最大的成就。然而该国的理想主义稍纵即逝，这些建筑被置于荒野，甚至逐渐腐烂。今日，在经过被世人遗忘的40多年之后，建筑师们试图回到旧地，在这些荒芜的旧址上，找寻这些建筑曾经的辉煌，给予她们往日的荣耀。
当年卡斯特罗委托古巴建筑师Ricardo Porro，意大利建筑师Vittorio Garatti 和Roberto Gottardi在短短2年内，制定出对于学术建筑设计的规划方案。彼时建筑师们遵循三大原则来进行翻新改造：1.将建筑与周围自然界的景观完全的融合，2.利用当地建材，3.采用加泰罗尼亚拱顶（Catalan Vault）为主的建筑元素，形成独特的几何空间。
在古巴，共有建造了5所学校：现代舞蹈、造型艺术、戏剧艺术、音乐和芭蕾舞。每座学院都采用了不同的结构，例如音乐学院是330米长的长蛇型结构，随着河流蜿蜒而行；芭蕾舞学院则采用圆形拱顶，之间被交织的路径连接；戏剧学院则拥有一座露天的中央剧场，周围则是小巷一般的通道，整个学院有种堡垒一般的外观。
但是，随着政权的交叠更替，古巴的政治经济变化，设计师们也被迫离开古巴，这些建筑的命运也沉浮多舛。
直至1999年，美国建筑历史学家John Loomis出版的《革命的形式》，将古巴那些被遗忘的校园建筑们带入国际视野，因此，古巴当局再次重新审视自己所拥有的宝贵文化，宣布古巴革命最重要的建筑方面的工作，是恢复这些当年的辉煌。最终，由于卡斯特罗个人的关注，使得这项修复工程被提上议程。古巴当局还邀请全球著名设计师Norman Foster重新设计芭蕾舞学校。然而，由于全球金融危机，古巴政府宣布破产。该工程再一次停滞。
建筑师Mario Coyula，维护哈瓦那地区建筑的负责人曾对此项目作出中肯而恰当的评论：“在大多数情况下，建筑需要适应人类的需求；然而在面对某些特殊的建筑作品时，人类则应该让自己去适应建筑。”

译者：温冷清秋

The National Schools of Art were built on the grounds of a famed country club in Havana, thus transforming an emblem of wealth and capital into a tuition-free, educational institute. Castro commissioned Cuban architect Ricardo Porro, a Latin American modernist, who was then joined by two Italian architects, Vittorio Garatti and Roberto Gottardi; the three were given a mere two months to devise a plan for the Schools.
Castro and Guevara playing golf on the soon to become grounds of the National School of Arts. Image © Alberto Korda
The architects were guided by three major principles: first, to integrate the schools into the varied, wild character of the site’s landscape; second, to use locally-produced bricks and terracotta tiles, which, following the US embargo on Cuba, were cheaper than imported materials such as steel and cement; and, thirdly, to use the Catalan Vault as the dominant architectural element, as its unique spatial formation would stand in bold contradiction to the geometrical, “capitalistic” architecture of the International Style.
Site plan. Image © John Loomis: Revolution of Forms
A total of five schools were constructed: Modern Dance, Plastic Arts, Dramatic Arts, Music, and Ballet. All shared a similar approach to material and structure; however, each presented a different interpretation of the site and reflected its specific program. Garatti’s School of Music was a 330-meter serpentine structure, which followed the contour of the river, and was complemented by the Catalan Vaulted spaces and two vast concert and practice halls. Another design of Garatti’s was the School of Ballet, which consisted of a cluster of terracotta-covered, domed pavilions, between which wound intertwining paths that encouraged chance encounters within the complex.
School of Ballet by Vittorio Garatti . Image © John Loomis: Revolution of Forms
Porro’s School of Dance presents a dynamic composition of non-rectilinear streets and courtyards that sprout from a central entry plaza, covered by fragmented glass sheets that are symbolic of the dramatic shatter of the previous regime. Porro took a different approach with the design of the School of Plastic Arts, which was inspired by the nation’s Cuban-African heritage and assumes an archetypical village structure made up of a series of oval-shaped pavilions of various sizes, connected with curved, shaded colonnades.
School of Modern Dance by Ricardo PorroSchool of Modern Dance by Ricardo Porro. Image © Adrián MALLOL i MORETTI
The school of Dramatic Arts, the only school designed by Roberto Gottard, contains a dominant, central amphitheatre. Cellular, inward-facing classrooms create a unique, intimate environment; in contrast, the exterior, punctured only by small, unshaded alley-like paths, gives the school a fortress-like appearance.
School of Plastic Arts by Ricardo Porro. Image © Adrián MALLOL i MORETTI
The enthusiasm that accompanied the schools’ inception began to deteriorate with the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962. The schools seemed out of scale with the Revolution: an extravagant, unnecessary use of resources. Furthermore, Cuba’s new ally, the communist Soviet Union, preferred anonymously pragmatic, functional architecture, which stood in striking contrast to the organically-inspired, craft-oriented, site-specific designs of Porro, Gottard and Garatti. The three architects were accused of promoting ideals of individual expression, branded as “bourgeois,” cultural elitists, and compelled to leave the country.
School of Modern Dance by Ricardo Porro. Image © Adrián MALLOL i MORETTI
In July 1965, and despite the schools’ various stages of completion, construction came to a complete halt. In the years that followed, the schools became a haven for squatters and vandalizers; cattle and wild jungle vegetation soon took over the site. In addition, by the 1970s, people began to adapt the site, constructing prefabricated concrete dormitories as well as roads and paths, which answered pragmatic needs but disrupted the original design.
School of Ballet by Vittorio Garatti . Image © Adrián MALLOL i MORETTI
Changes began to unfold in 1999, when the American architect and historian John Loomis published a book titled Revolution of Forms, which brought the story of Cuba’s forgotten schools into international awareness. That same year in Cuba, José Villa, the chair of the National Council of the National Union of Cuban Writers and Artists, declared the Schools the most important architectural work of the Cuban Revolution.
School of Modern Dance by Ricardo Porro. Image Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
At last, Castro’s personal attention was piqued and he declared that the time had come to restore the beloved project of his youth. The completion of the schools became a national mission, led by the Minister of Culture himself. Porro and Garatti were invited back to Havana, where they joined Gottard for a historical meeting in which they discussed the challenge of restoring their derelict masterpieces. As part of the plan,the world renowned architect Norman Foster was invited to redesign the school of Ballet; however, as of now, the Cuban government has paused the restoration due to the global financial crisis.
School of Modern Dance by Ricardo Porro. Image © Adrián MALLOL i MORETTI
Mario Coyula, the architect in charge of preservation in Havana, aptly stated of the project: “In most cases, architecture must adapt itself to human need, but in cases of exceptional works of architecture, human need should adapt itself to architecture.”
School of Modern Dance by Ricardo Porro. Image © Adrián MALLOL i MORETTI
Check out the trailer to the incredible documentary Unfinished Spaces, directed by Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray, which tells the story of the schools and features interviews with the architects.
References: Revolution of Forms, World Monuments Fund, and Wikipedia.
Architects: Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti and Robert Gattardi
Location: 134, Havana, Cuba
Year: 1961
Photographs: Adrián Guerra Rey via places.designobserver.com, John Loomis: Revolution of Forms, Adrián MALLOL i MORETTI, Courtesy of Norma Barbacci/World Monuments Fund, Courtesy of John Stubbs/World Monuments Fund, Flickr user: ckeech, Isabel Rigol, Flickr user: travfotos, Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons, Alberto Korda