The Cuban Square – Plaza de la RevoluciĆ²n, Havana, Cuba
Reimagining Public Space
This project is a competition entry for the Plaza de la RevoluciĆ²n, Havana, Cuba, one of the most important public spaces on the island, and the site of the long speeches ā many lasting several hours ā that Fidel Castro made to the people of Cuba in the years after the Cuban Revolution. The site is currently little used and is a vast open tract of tarmac and concrete, overlooked by the profiled-metal public art sculptures of ChĆ© Guevara and Camilo Cienfuegos.
The Plaza de la RevoluciĆ²n is reimagined here as an inhabited Cuban landscape, a participatory event that facilitates interdependent communal enterprise, in line with the spirit of the revolution, as well as providing green relaxation spaces within the city.
A sequence of key events is established across the site, linked by a diagrid of paths and routes that dip in and out of dense vegetation cover. The key events are:
ā¢ Food growing terraces – the OrganopĆ³nico
ā¢ Workshops on the upper levels of the OrganopĆ³nico
ā¢ Three linked covered market squares within the structure of the OrganopĆ³nico
ā¢ A covered performance space
ā¢ A water tower, to harvest and store rainwater, to supply the OrganopĆ³nico
ā¢ A reservoir lake that also provides open air swimming
ā¢ A sequence of routes with intermittent covered pavilions for shade and picnicking
ā¢ A secret garden: a sequestered, reflective space away from the city
The OrganopĆ³nico is an urban farm, managed by the local community, for the cultivation of vegetables and fruit. A sequence of three stepped pavilions on multiple levels, linked together, it is located on the north side of the plaza, with a 180-degree orientation towards the arc of the sun.
Within each pavilion is an open area to facilitate a variety of communal needs ā a market place, performance areas, food consumption, and workshops. The three pavilions create at ground floor a continuous, covered public space that runs the whole length of the plaza, on the north side.
This project creates a harmonious, integrated public event for Havanaās future.