On the western side of Havana, a group of brick buildings rises from the landscape as if the ground itself had turned into architecture. Curved corridors, domes, vaulted roofs, shaded walkways, and open courtyards shape a campus where art and construction seem to move together. This is the architectural world associated with Havana’s Superior Institute of Arts, known in Spanish as the Instituto Superior de Arte, and with the earlier National Art Schools created in the first years of the Cuban Revolution.
The complex is more than an academic setting. It is a lesson in how design can respond to place, politics, material scarcity, climate, and creative ambition. Its buildings were not conceived as neutral classrooms. They were designed as environments for dance, music, visual arts, ballet, and dramatic arts. Each school explored a different spatial language, yet all shared a commitment to landscape, craft, and expressive structure.
From country club grounds to a national arts campus
The story begins in the early 1960s, when the former Country Club of Havana became the site for a new arts academy. The project emerged during a period when Cuba wanted to expand access to cultural education and create institutions that reflected a new national vision. Rather than adapting conventional school buildings, the project asked architecture to participate in the artistic mission of the campus.
The original National Art Schools were planned as five specialized schools: Modern Dance, Plastic or Visual Arts, Dramatic Arts, Music, and Ballet. Construction began with great ambition, but it slowed and eventually stopped around the mid-1960s because of political, economic, and technical circumstances. Even unfinished, the campus became one of the most discussed architectural works in Cuba because of the force of its ideas and the originality of its construction.
Three architects and one shared experiment
The project was led by Cuban architect Ricardo Porro, who worked with Italian architects Vittorio Garatti and Roberto Gottardi. Porro designed the School of Modern Dance and the School of Plastic Arts. Garatti designed the School of Music and the School of Ballet. Gottardi designed the School of Dramatic Arts.
Their approach did not follow the cold repetition often associated with institutional modernism. Instead, the architects treated the campus as a sequence of experiences. They used curved paths, changing light, enclosed and open spaces, and strong relationships with vegetation and topography. The result feels less like a standard campus and more like a small architectural city made for artistic discovery.
The design principles that shaped the campus
The design followed three essential principles. First, the schools had to integrate with the existing landscape instead of erasing it. The former golf course, the river, the slopes, and the vegetation became part of the architecture. Second, the buildings had to rely on locally available materials, especially brick and terracotta. Third, the Catalan vault would become the dominant construction system, allowing expressive forms with limited reliance on steel and reinforced concrete.
These principles gave the campus its identity. The architecture does not hide the logic of its construction. Brick courses, vaulted surfaces, domes, ribs, and curved colonnades reveal how the buildings stand. Structure becomes part of the visual language, and material limitation becomes a source of invention rather than a weakness.
Catalan vaults: structure, climate, and expression
The Catalan vault is one of the most important technical features of the complex. Built with thin brick or ceramic elements, this type of vault can span spaces with elegant curves while using relatively modest amounts of material. In the Cuban climate, the vaulted roofs also create shaded, ventilated, and thermally responsive spaces.
At the National Art Schools, the Catalan vault was not used as a decorative reference. It became a structural and spatial system. It allowed the architects to create domes, winding corridors, covered passages, classrooms, studios, and performance spaces with a handmade quality. The system also connected the campus to broader traditions of Hispanic and Mediterranean construction while giving it a distinctly Cuban expression.
A different architectural language for each art form
Each school translated its artistic program into architectural form. Porro’s School of Modern Dance uses fragmented, non-linear spaces that suggest movement, rupture, and rhythm. His School of Plastic Arts is organized around curved paths and oval pavilions, creating a village-like setting for visual creation and collaboration.
Garatti’s School of Music follows the landscape in a long, winding sequence, using vaulted spaces and a strong relationship with the river. His School of Ballet develops through domed pavilions and interwoven paths that evoke choreography and bodily movement. Gottardi’s School of Dramatic Arts uses a more introverted composition, with an amphitheater and classrooms arranged to intensify the relationship between performer, audience, and stage.
Why the campus still matters
The campus matters because it shows how architecture can carry cultural meaning without losing technical discipline. It was experimental, but not arbitrary. Its curves respond to paths, climate, structure, and artistic use. The materials reflect what was locally available. The spaces, in turn, were shaped around the needs of performers, musicians, painters, actors, and dancers.
It also matters because the project challenges the idea that unfinished architecture lacks value. Some parts of the schools were completed, others remained incomplete, and several areas suffered deterioration over time. Yet the complex continued to influence architects, historians, artists, and preservation advocates. John A. Loomis’s book Revolution of Forms: Cuba’s Forgotten Art Schools helped renew international attention to the project in the 1990s, and later preservation discussions reinforced its importance.
An instructive legacy for architecture and engineering
For engineers and architects, the Superior Institute of Arts offers a valuable lesson: constraints can produce extraordinary design when they are understood deeply. Limited access to steel and concrete pushed the designers toward brick, terracotta, and vaulted systems. The landscape pushed them toward curved circulation and distributed pavilions. The artistic program pushed them toward spaces that invite movement, exchange, and experimentation.
The result remains one of the most distinctive architectural ensembles in Latin America. It is not only a place where artists were trained. It is a place where architecture itself became artistic instruction, teaching through material, proportion, shade, movement, and structure.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Superior Institute of Arts in Havana?
The Superior Institute of Arts, or Instituto Superior de Arte, is a major Cuban arts institution associated with the campus originally developed as the National Art Schools in Havana. The complex became known for its expressive brick architecture and its schools dedicated to different artistic disciplines.
Who designed the National Art Schools?
The main architects were Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti, and Roberto Gottardi. Porro designed the schools of Modern Dance and Plastic Arts, Garatti designed Music and Ballet, and Gottardi designed Dramatic Arts.
What makes the architecture unique?
Its uniqueness comes from the integration of landscape, locally produced brick and terracotta, Catalan vault construction, and a different spatial identity for each art form.
Why were parts of the project left unfinished?
Construction slowed and stopped in the mid-1960s because of political changes, economic limitations, material shortages, and shifting architectural priorities.
Why is the campus important today?
It remains important because it combines architectural experimentation, cultural history, structural ingenuity, and preservation value. It continues to inspire discussions about Latin American modern architecture, adaptive reuse, and the relationship between art and built form.
© 2024 Eastern Engineering Group wrote and published this article. All rights reserved.
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