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Despite the actions toward a more sustainable development, a poor understanding of the role of architecture and urban design to achieve this goal is appreciated in Cuba. The objective of this paper is to show how it is possible to improve the sustainability in a built environment, by simple and economic transformations, taking as study object the Universidad de Ciencias Informáticas (UCI). A qualitative urban diagnosis was carried out in order to define the main performance strategies. The proposals are progressive, based on minimum intervention and maximum impact. Some of them are: rezoning to reduce distances, using alternative transportation means as bicycles and zero energy minibuses, incorporating new services, using renewable sources of energy and creating an ecological park with a wetland for the gray water treatment. This diagnosis allowed to select the more problematic buildings to be transformed based on a qualitative and quantitative evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following paper presents the outcomes obtained from a pioneering line of research which relates two themes of huge relevance in postmodern architectural theory - heritage made up of pre-existing buildings and the integral reuse of these buildings as an act of sustainability. This line of research aims to virtuously integrate those architectural values which must remain in time while providing a new meaning to them. In this way, it contributes to sustainable development from a specialized area, which synthesizes architectural design, construction, economic and social issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]