Antonio Quintana Simonetti

Last updated
Antonio Quintana Simonetti
Antonio Quintana Simonetti.jpg
Antonio Quintana
Born(1919-04-19)April 19, 1919
DiedSeptember 21, 1993(1993-09-21) (aged 74)
Alma mater University of Havana
OccupationArchitect
Spouse Matilde Ponce Copado
AwardsGold Medal from the Colegio Nacional de Arquitectos de Cuba
BuildingsBuilding for Enriqueta Fernández, Edificio del Seguro Médico, Building del Retiro Odontológico

Antonio Luis Quintana Simonetti (April 19, 1919 - September 21, 1993) was a Cuban architect and a forerunner of Modern architecture in Havana. Quintana graduated from the University of Havana in 1944, among his works are some of the most important modernist buildings in the capital. [1] Dissatisfied as a student with the classical canons, Antonio Quintana participated in 1944 in the so-called "Burning of Vignola" in the courtyard of the School of Architecture of the University of Havana. From this date forward, he began to study the precepts of contemporary architecture. He graduated as an architect in the same year.

Contents

History

Early in his career, Quintana worked with Pedro Martínez Inclán and Mario Romañach in the Barrio Residencial Obrero de Luyanó, a modernist project that consisting of 1,500 houses, eight apartment complexes in four-story buildings, and all the complementary services of the houses: markets, schools, sports fields, and parks. [2] After the triumph of the Cuban Revolution, in 1959, Quintana decided to stay in Cuba and work for the revolutionary government, unlike many of his colleagues, who preferred to leave the country. He directed the Directorate of Projects of the Ministry of Construction (MICONS), between 1961 and 1969. He continued to design until 1991 when he concluded his last project, Teatro Heredia de Santiago de Cuba. He died in Havana on September 21 of 1993, at the age of 74.

Building for Enriqueta Fernández

Antonio Quintana, duplex apartaments. Havana (Vedado), Cuba, 1951-1953 Antonio Quintana, Apartamentos Vedado,Havana, Cuba.jpg
Antonio Quintana, duplex apartaments. Havana (Vedado), Cuba, 1951-1953

Between 1951 and 1953 he designed, with Alberto Beale, Manuel A. Rubio y Augusto Pérez Beato, the apartment building for Enriqueta Fernández on the corners of 23 and 26 streets, in Vedado, Havana. The building constitutes the first instance in the construction of 12 two-level, duplex apartments in Cuba. Due to its structural lightness, the building caused an impact at the time. [2]

The volume of the building consists of a block that rests on four columns that are spaced about 12m apart, and a cantilever of about 6m on each side. The stairs and the elevator are separated from the main body which connects every 2 floors. The floor of the houses is organized by modules of about 3 meters that give rise to the different rooms. The structural framework also organizes the façade, generating frames every two floors, which contain each housing unit. The enclosure is delayed giving rise to a terrace. [3]

Antonio Quintana Simonetti, architect. Edificio Enriqueta Fernandez building, duplex apartment, lower floor Antonio Quintana Simonetti, architect. Edificio Enriqueta Fernandez building, duplex apartment, lower floor.jpg
Antonio Quintana Simonetti, architect. Edificio Enriqueta Fernández building, duplex apartment, lower floor

Quintana based the building's design on an idea suggested by José Rodríguez Feo, who later lived in the penthouse; he saw "the building as hanging from a cloud", floating, or almost without touching the ground, with the aim of integrating the public and private spaces, making the corner "disappear", the place that would be like a square and used for exhibitions. It was a very novel structure for its time, supported by only four columns and the building seems to levitate six meters on the sides, as well as the staircase and the elevator seem separated from it and connecting every two floors. In 1955, economic needs and the search for greater profitability led the ground floor to be occupied by a car dealer, this intervention added new partitions but the original idea and transparency continued to be present, in later years a new cafeteria was added on the ground floor and a restaurant on the mezzanine, nullifying the original conception of the project and making it impossible to distinguish the differentiation of volumes. [3]

Building del Retiro Odontológico

Antonio Quintana Retiro Odontologico building Antonio Quintana Retiro Odontologico building.jpg
Antonio Quintana Retiro Odontologico building

This building is located on Calle L between 21 and 23, the construction of this building led to the Gold Medal award in 1956. This building has two basement levels designed for parking. These apartments are currently unused. It has a cafeteria with a capacity for 200 people and direct access to the street. It has a theater room that, because it is very deteriorated, does not provide functions. On the first two floors are the Stomatological College and the offices of the dental offices. This building was awarded a gold medal in 1956 by the Colegio Nacional de Arquitectos de Cuba. [4] Currently, the building houses the Faculty of Economics of the University of Havana, the Talía Theatre, and the L Art Gallery (ground floor). [5]

Edificio del Seguro Médico, Havana

Edificio del Seguro Medico Building Edificio del Seguro Medico. Havana, Cuba.jpg
Edificio del Seguro Médico Building

The Edificio del Seguro Médico Building, located on 23rd street at N corner, is considered an important commercial architectural work of the 1950s in the city of Havana. [4] It was initially built as a residential building and the headquarters of the Medical Insurance. Currently, the Latin Press Agency and the Ministry of Public Health are based there. It has 2 basement levels for parking. From the 4th floor, there are 3 apartments per floor. [4]

1955 competition

Commercial building entrance on La Rampa. Drawing by Quintana. Edificio del Seguro Medico, Havana Dibujo.quintana.jpg
Commercial building entrance on La Rampa. Drawing by Quintana.

The project arose as a result of a public architectural competition held in 1955 for the new headquarters of the Cuban Colegio de Médicos (National Medical Association) and the offices of the Medical Insurance Company. Given the high cost of the site, the complexity of the initial project was increased by the need to add rental income from apartments that would help to make the building profitable. Antonio Quintana's proposal was the winner since it managed to solve the complexity of the program with two volumes: a five-story box containing administrative offices, an auditorium, and lobbies, and an eighteen-story modernist slab with its own separate entrance lobby. Quintana established a visual dialogue between the two geometries and generated new guidelines for the new emerging modernist, mixed-use typologies. in the city. [6]

The Seguro Medico was a private company, they were the landlord and owner of the residential tower and thus subject to the new property redistribution instituted by the Castro government. Early in the new revolutionary government, guided by the principals that: 1. housing is a right, not a commodity, 2. housing should be equitable, and 3. the government is the primary decision-maker, "Fidel Castro sought to release the grip landlords held on Cuban properties with a 1960 urban-reform law that eliminated multiple ownership, gave renters a chance to buy their homes at low cost and made the state responsible for providing housing." Thus, all private property was abolished and the government forcefully became the new owner of the Seguro Medico building. [7]

Program

The first mixed-use building in Havana was the Radiocentro CMQ Building, also on La Rampa (Calle 23). The modernist Edificio del Seguro Médico is one of the earliest mixed-use buildings (commercial/residential) in Havana. Similar to the Lever House in Manhattan, Simonetti set up a relationship of two volumes of dissimilar proportion: a box at the lower level containing the Seguro Médico offices, and an eighteen-story residential block. Similar to the FOCSA Building's podium used only for recreation, the residences are located over the roof of the Seguro Medico offices; a large plane made into a children's playground (garden) as shown in the Quintana sketch-drawing for that area.

Because the building must accommodate a dual program, there is a total separation by way of two scales, two structural modules, and two entrances on two different streets. [lower-alpha 1]

Architecture

Structural Plan. Residential block Edificio del Seguro Medico, Havana Structural Plan Autocad.jpg
Structural Plan. Residential block

Residential module

The residential block has an architectural module of 3.13 metres (10.3 ft) by 3.40 metres (11.2 ft). Three 3.13 metres (10.3 ft) modules are expressed on the north elevation of the office block by the 9.40-meter dimension of the bearing walls. [9] The outboard balconies are each of a different color and alternate position on every floor. The lower volume occupied today by the Ministry of Public Health. [lower-alpha 2] [10] The 3.40 metres (11.2 ft) width of the rooms is further subdivided into three sections of 1.13 metres (3 ft 8 in) and this module determines the width of doors, windows, and passages between rooms within the apartment. The wooden windows have two sets of nine movable slats that can be independently controlled to modulate the natural light in the room, they can be completely closed to make the room totally dark, even in bright days. The pattern of the windows and door and the bearing walls (9.40 meters apart) are expressed on the Calle N elevation.

Balconies, walls and floors

Balconies in their present state of disrepair. Edificio del Seguro Medico (36350869070).jpg
Balconies in their present state of disrepair.

The balconies have a six-inch terrazzo baseboard and two incandescent lights located in the ceiling of the balcony above. The front railing of the outboard balconies are the upturned concrete floor slab, the two pre-fab side railings are metal. Originally the floors in the residential tower were of black terrazzo.

There are four structural walls of poured in place reinforced concrete. The two center walls are the shear panels of the tower. The height of the apartment ceiling is eleven concrete blocks high plus a terrazzo base (2,352 millimetres (92.6 in)). They divide the apartments and rooms and are unpainted, set in common, gray mortar, the wall sits on top of a black 152 millimetres (6.0 in) terrazzo baseboard that matches the floors. Several of the doors in the apartment as the bathroom doors, for instance, have fixed louvers between the space from the top of the door to the ceiling, some of the doors have a 320 millimetres (13 in) fixed panel of glass over them. In some of the bathrooms, the terrazzo floor is raised by a step.

In both sides of the rear elevation on each floor, there is a 12.65-meter long wall that is subdivided down the center it is divided horizontally into three parts: 1-Two prefab concrete panels of 6.32 m or 9.48 m in length depending on the layout of the floor. 2- Located under the kitchen cabinets, a strip window of equal length and in the middle of the two concrete panels. The window has wooden "persianas" (venetian blinds) that were widely used in modern and traditional residential buildings in Havana such as the FOCSA Building and the López Serrano Building. The other wall is the exterior wall of the public corridor, made of floor to ceiling concrete blocks and set in such a way that allows for 8" X 8" openings throughout so that the exterior wall of the semi-public corridor is partially open to the elements. The concrete block wall is either 6.32 or 3.17 meters long and alternates with the plank wall in an abstract pattern.

The wall enclosing the vestibule in front of the elevators is made of an aluminum frame for glass panel inserts with operable windows.

Ventilation and light

Edificio del Seguro Medico. South wall, rear elevation from La Rampa Edificio del Seguro Medico-elevation. Havana, Cuba.jpg
Edificio del Seguro Médico. South wall, rear elevation from La Rampa
Edificio del Seguro Medico_wall detail, Havana Edificio del Seguro Medico wall detail, Havana.jpg
Edificio del Seguro Médico_wall detail, Havana

The north wall is designed to regulate the view, breezes from the north and the natural light. The entire wall is subdivided according to the 3.13 metres (10.3 ft) module and it is composed of louvered doors and windows that can be made to open completely so that the wall is de-materialized, or, its opposite, be made to change its character to the point where no air or light can enter the rooms. On the rear elevation, two different wall surface designs form an abstract pattern. One, accommodates a horizontal operable window in the middle of the wall, (similar to the FOCSA Building), which is made up of two prefab concrete slabs. The other design makes the wall partially porous by the placement of the cmu to allow for views, natural light and ventilation.

Murals

Residential lobby entrance from Calle N, mural by Mariano Rodriguez Edificio del Seguro Medico, Havana Lobby.jpg
Residential lobby entrance from Calle N, mural by Mariano Rodriguez

The building has two murals, one a black and white tesserae mural by Wifredo Lam entitled Abstracción which is located on the main entrance-commercial vestibule on Calle La Rampa; the other is in the residential lobby on Calle N and titled Boomerang, by Mariano Rodriguez.

Prize

Rafael Salas apartment building

Antonio Quintana Apartamentos Rafael Salas, Havana, Cuba Antonio Quintana Apartamentos Rafael Salas, Havana, Cuba.jpg
Antonio Quintana Apartamentos Rafael Salas, Havana, Cuba

This was built on the corner of 25 facing G street. It was built at the same time as the Medical Insurance but it does not have a basement. It was designed to appear as if the structure was floating, but when years later the plant was closed with solid partitions and wood, it lost that effect. It has 18 floors and is currently under repair.

Publication

At the national level, Quintana received recognition from the main specialized publications of the time: Arquitectura, Espacio, Álbum de Cuba; at the same time, his work was made known internationally through the publication Latin American Architecture since 1945, published by the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and the Exhibition of Modern Cuban Architecture held in the same city by the Architectural League of New York. In 1959 he received the Gold Medal award from the National College of Architects for the Best Designer of Commercial Projects. [11]

See also

Notes

  1. Mariano Rodriguez won, together with Wifredo Lam, the competition for the realization of two murals. Mariano's mural is in ceramic and titled Boomerang. His work Gallo Amarillo obtained a merit award of $500.00 at the VIII National Painting and Sculpture Hall and went to the collection of the National Museum. [8]
  2. Robert Venturi in the ISI Building at 3501 Market Street near the Penn campus designed a flush facade (on the north-east side of the building) similar to the Edificio del Seguro Médico so that there is a modernist reading, no shadows from the window frames register on the facade.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Havana</span> Capital and largest city of Cuba

Havana is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center. The city has a population of 2.3 million inhabitants, and it spans a total of 728.26 km2 (281.18 sq mi)for the Capital City side and 8,475.57 km² for the Metropolitan zone – making it the largest city by area, the most populous city, and the Second largest metropolitan area in the Caribbean region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Vedado</span> Urban neighborhood in the city of Havana, Cuba

Vedado is a central business district and urban neighborhood in the city of Havana, Cuba. Bordered on the east by Calzada de Infanta and Central Havana, and on the west by the Alemendares River and Miramar / Playa district, Vedado is a more modern part of the city than the areas to the east, developed in the first half of the 20th century, during the Republic period. In 2016 it was described by one commentator as the city's "most affluent" section. The main street running east to west is Calle 23, also known as "La Rampa". The northern edge of the district is the waterfront seawall known as the Malecón, a famous and popular place for social gatherings in the city. The area popularly referred to as 'Vedado' consists of the wards of Vedado, Rampa, Vedado-Malecón and Carmelo, all in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edificio Metrópolis, Madrid</span>

The Metropolis Building or Edificio Metrópolis (Spanish) is an office building in Madrid, Spain, at the corner of the Calle de Alcalá and Gran Vía. Inaugurated in 1911, it was designed by Jules and Raymond Février for the insurance company La Unión y el Fénix. It is currently owned by Metrópolis Seguros.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bacardi Building (Havana)</span> Landmark building in Havana, Cuba

The Bacardi Building is an Art Deco Havana landmark designed by the architects Esteban Rodríguez-Castells and Rafael Fernández Ruenes and completed in 1930. It is located on the corner of Calles Monserrate and San Juan de Dios on a 1,320 sq meter lot in Las Murallas, Old Havana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">La Rampa</span> Street in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba

La Rampa is a main street in the Vedado district of Havana, Cuba. La Rampa runs from Calle L to the Malecón. Built in 1930, the end was the location of the Battery of Santa Clara that protected the city from attack.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">FOCSA Building</span> Residential and commercial building located in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana, Cuba

The FOCSA Building is a residential and commercial block in the Vedado neighborhood of Havana, Cuba. At 121 meters (397 ft), it is the tallest building in Cuba. It was named after the contracting company Fomento de Obras y Construcciones, Sociedad Anónima, and the architects were Ernesto Gómez Sampera (1921–2004), Mercedes Diaz, and Martín Domínguez Esteban (1897-1970), who was the architect of the Radiocentro CMQ Building. The structural engineer was Luis Sáenz Duplace, of the firm Sáenz, Cancio & Martín, and professor of engineering at the University of Havana. The civil engineers were Bartolome Bestard and Manuel Padron. Gustavo Becquer and Fernando H.Meneses were the mechanical and electrical engineers, respectively. It is located on a site bordered by Calles 17 and M and Calles 19 and N in the Vedado.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paseo del Prado, Havana</span> Promenade in Havana, Cuba

Paseo del Prado is a street and promenade in Havana, Cuba, near the location of the old city wall, and the division between Centro Habana and Old Havana. Technically, the Paseo del Prado includes the entire length of Paseo Martí approximately from the Malecon to Calle Máximo Gómez, the Fuente de la India fountain. The promenade has had several names; it was renamed Paseo de Martí in 1898 with the island's independence from Spain. Despite the historic references, the people of Havana simply call it "El Prado".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atlantic Building</span>

The Atlantic Building is a condominium building of 25 floors located on Calle D between 1st. and 3rd, in Vedado, Havana. It is located in a privileged area near the Malecon. It the first building erected by the Cuban-Italian mixed enterprise Azul Inmobiliaria, founded in 1999 in partnership with the Italian partner B & D International and is a holding company with franchised in Cuba where it is known as Inversiones Punta del Morro. Construction began in 2000 and was inaugurated on February 10, 2007. It is considered a symbol of Cuban modern architecture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">López Serrano Building</span> Residential in Havana, Cuba

The López Serrano Building was the tallest residential building in Cuba until the construction of the FOCSA in 1956. Designed by the architect Ricardo Mira in 1929, who in 1941 who also designed La Moderna Poesia bookstore on Obispo Street for the same owner, it is often compared to the Bacardi Building in Old Havana built two years before the López Serrano Building because of their similarity in massing and central tower. The congressman, senator, and presidential candidate Eduardo Chibás was living on the fourteenth-floor penthouse when he committed suicide in August 1951 on the air at CMQ Radio Station.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colegio Nacional de Arquitectos de Cuba</span> Office in Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba

Colegio Nacional de Arquitectos de Cuba (C.N.A.C.) is a Cuban national institution based in Havana, that grew out of El Colegio de Arquitectos de La Habana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church del Espíritu Santo, Havana</span> Religious in Havana, Cuba

The Iglesia del Espíritu Santo at #702 Calle Cuba in Old Havana, Cuba, was built in 1635 on the corner of the corner of Calles Cuba and Acosta. The Espíritu Santo contains some notable paintings including a seated, post-crucifixion Christ on the right wall, and catacombs. It is considered one of the oldest temples in Havana. Free blacks, already numerous, devoted the church to the Holy Spirit in 1638.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Radiocentro CMQ Building</span> Radio & television studios, commercial, offices, movie theatre in Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba

The Radiocentro CMQ Building complex is a former radio and television production facility and office building at the intersection of Calle L and La Rampa in El Vedado, Cuba. It was modeled after Raymond Hood's 1933 Rockefeller Center in New York City. With 1,650 seats, the theater first opened on December 23, 1947, under the name Teatro Warner Radiocentro, it was owned by brothers Goar and Abel Mestre. Today the building serves as the headquarters of the Cuban Institute of Radio and Television (ICRT).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Church Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje, Havana</span> Religious in Havana, Cuba

The Iglesia del Santo Cristo del Buen Viaje is located in Havana Vieja on Calle Cristo between Calles Lamparilla y Teniente Rey. Built at a time in which transatlantic crossings were risky, it acquired popularity during colonial times as a temple dedicated to travelers and navigators. Travelers and especially sailors would visit before leaving on a journey, and to pay their respects upon arriving back on land. Later during Cuba's republican era, the devotion to Santa Rita was added to the church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edificio del Seguro Médico, Havana</span> Commercial building in Havana, Cuba

The Edificio del Seguro Médico is a commercial building in El Vedado, Havana. Built between 1955 and 1958, it was designed as a mixed use building for apartments and offices for the headquarters of the National Medical Insurance Company by Antonio Quintana Simonetti.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martín Domínguez Esteban</span> Spanish architect

Martín Domínguez Esteban was a Spanish architect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plaza del Vapor, Havana</span> Courtyard in Havana, Cuba

The Plaza del Vapor was a covered market in Havana. Its name derives from its builder Francisco Martí who became later the impresario of the Tacón Theatre and who had a monopoly of fish trade in the city. Martí had a painting placed against a wall from a bar of the ship El Neptuno, the first vapor that made regular round trips between Havana and Matanzas. "It was the image of that ship that ended up naming the building." From the Plaza del Vapor, Martí sold 50% of all the lottery tickets. in Cuba.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mario Romañach</span> Cuban architect

Mario Romañach (1917–1984) was a Cuban modernist architect, planner, and university professor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matilde Ponce Copado</span> Cuban architect

Matilde Ponce Copado (1932-2001) was a Cuban modernist architect.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rosita De Hornedo</span> Residential in Ciudad de La Habana, Cuba

The Hotel Rosita De Hornedo, located in the Puntilla area of Miramar, was one of the first major buildings to be built by a private developer in the 1950s in Havana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Palacio del Segundo Cabo</span>

The Palacio del Segundo Cabo was built in the last decades of the 18th century, between 1770 and 1791, as part of the urban improvement project around the Plaza de Armas.

References

  1. "Antonio Quintana Simonetti y sus 5 edificios emblemáticos de El Vedado". 14 October 2019. Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  2. 1 2 "Antonio Quintana Simonetti" . Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  3. 1 2 "Edificio Enriqueta Fernández" . Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  4. 1 2 3 4 "Antonio Quintana Simonetti y sus 5 edificios emblemáticos de El Vedado". 14 October 2019. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
  5. "Edificio del Retiro Odontológico". Archived from the original on 2022-10-08. Retrieved 2021-12-17.
  6. 1 2 Petkov Ivanov, Ivan (8 September 2009). Edificio para el seguro medico, La Habana (Master thesis) (in Spanish). Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. hdl: 2099.1/7627 .
  7. "HOUSING POLICY IN CASTRO'S CUBA" (PDF). Retrieved 2018-12-02.
  8. "Fundacion Mariano Rodriguez" . Retrieved 2021-12-15.
  9. File:Edificio del Seguro Médico, Havana NE Elevation.jpg
  10. "Buildings: North Academic Building from the 2007 Master Plan". 6 April 2011. Retrieved 2018-11-21.
  11. "Antonio Quintana Simonetti" . Retrieved 2021-12-16.
Entrevista con José Antonio Choy, arquitecto cubano
Seguro Medico_Ivan Petkov Ivanov
Havana skyline from Havana Hilton
Page 194. RETIRO ODONTOLOGICO CALLE L NO 353 HAVANA, CUBA, 1953-54
Antonio Quintana Simonetti