Mariaelena

Havana Art Deco Architectural Guide

Author: Arch. María Elena Martín Zequeira, PhD       (Bilingual – English/ Spanish)

Sponsored by: Geo Darder, Founder and President of Copperbridge Foundation
The book, as indicated by its title, is a guide to the study and knowledge of the main Art Deco style constructions in the Cuban capital. Two hundred  works have been selected spread throughout the central municipalities of Old Havana, Havana Center, Plaza de la Revolución, Cerro and 10 de Octubre, as well as the western and southern municipalities of Playa, Marianao, Boyeros, Arroyo Naranjo and San Miguel de Padrón.

Houses, apartment buildings, public and semipublic buildings, factories, warehouses, monuments and urban furniture are reviewed within the book’s content. Also, a selection of art deco graves, mausoleums and pantheons located in the Christopher Columbus cemetery has been included.

The book comprises partial maps of each of the abovementioned municipalities pinpointing the location of the works. Furthermore, more than 900 full color original photographs taken specifically for the edition and a few architectural plans illustrate the contents.
The written information gathered in the guide is the result of a more than 10 years research carried out in the national and provincial archives, specialized libraries and personal visits to all the sites appearing in it.
The purpose of this publication has been to promote and spread, both in Cuba and abroad, part of our national architectural culture that is of great value and requires a more mindful look for its safeguard and preservation.

MARIA ELENA MARTIN ZEQUEIRA

Architect and Historian. Senior Professor at the Havana School of Architecture in the Higher Institute for Polytechnic Studies “Jose Antonio Echeverria”, where she obtained her PhD.

Architect Maria Elena Martin Zequeira co-founded the Urban Design Department at the Havana City Office for Architecture and Urban Planning, where she worked for twenty years as a Head of that Department. Her work explores the relationship between architecture, urban design, art and cultural heritage. She has published in national and international specialised publications. She is the co-author of Havana Map and Guide to 337 Significant Architectural Monuments; La Habana Colonial: Guia de Arquitectura; and Havana, Cuba. An Architectural Guide. She is the author of multimedia La Habana. Arquitectura Colonial, 1519-1898, launched in 2008 and awarded with the First Prize in the VII Bienal de Arquitectura Caribeña FCAA, 2009; and Havana Art Deco Architectural Guide, in 2015.

In 1995 she received a Diploma at the Institute of Housing and Urban Studies (IHS) in the Netherlands. In 2000 she was the Coordinator of Architecture for the 7th Havana Biennial. In 2002 she participated in the International Conference ACSA and received a Fellowship from the Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst in Germany to conduct research in Berlin about contemporary Architecture and Urbanism. In addition, she attended the International Colloquium “Henry van de Velde, Architekt und Gestalter” in Weimar, Germany. In 2005 she coordinated in Havana “4 VECES 5”, an exhibition with 20 models of the best art deco architecture in Cuba; and participated in the International Seminar “Urbanizaçao e Regularizaçao de Assentamentos Informais e as Políticas Habitacionais na América Latina: desafios e perspectivas”, Brazil.

In 2007 she taught at the workshop “Flowing Ideas” in Neukloster, Germany, coordinated by Dortmund and Kentucky Universities; in 2008 she was a Guest Professor in Darmstadt University where she developed an intensive urban design workshop among other professional activities. In the same year she attended the 10th. International Docomomo Conference, in the Netherlands, as a speaker. In 2010 she taught at the Master Program International Cooperation and Urban Development at the Universidad Internacional de Cataluña, Spain. In 2011 she was awarded with the Grand Prize in “Gonzalo de Cardenas” photography competition. In 2012 she lectured in Boston, New York City and Chicago as a promotion for the XII Art Deco World Congress to be celebrated in Havana, Cuba in March 2013, in which she was a member of the Organizing Committee and the coordinator of “The Best of Art Deco in Havana”, exhibition of architecture models, repeated in 2014.

In 2014 she has participated in the XV Encuentro Iberoamericano de Valorización y Gestión de Cementerios Patrimoniales, in Quillota, Chile, organized by Red Iberoamericana de Valorización y Gestión de Cementerios Patrimoniales.

Prof. Martín Zequeira also has lectured at colloquiums and workshops throughout Latin America, the United States and Europe, including Royal Institute of British Architects, United Kingdom; Berlage Institute, The Netherlands; Technical University of Darmstadt, Germany; Brown University, Rhode Island, USA; and Santiago de Chile. She belongs to the main professional associations in Cuba and to Docomomo and ICOMOS international organizations.