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The railroad's outstanding role in the social and economic activities in Cuba during the XIX century produced the establishment of administrative structures for developing, planning and regulating the railway topic inside the island's government. This research is targeted to analyze the labor of the military engineers in the introduction and development of railroads in Cuba during the period 1837-1898. Therefore, this paper explains the competences of those professionals in engineering and architecture works, their tasks in public and private occupations related to railway's activities, and finally, it establishes a characterization of the buildings as a result of the expansion of this mean of transportation in Cuba. The approach to this topic, through an historical and architectonical point of view, emphasizes the exceptionality of the Cuban example due to its role as pioneer in Hispanic America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is usual nowadays to call Architecture as the set of buildings built to fulfill a specific function or activity. This point of view justifies the functional and constructive aspects of Architecture. What it is important to highlight in this paper is its active role in the creation of culture, where Architecture widely goes beyond this consideration. This is called the symbolic role of Architecture and it is related to the aesthetic current codes that are linked to patrimony, memory, history and social structure. To enlighten these arguments, cases from different periods and places are contrasted; highlighting, in a very special way, the demolition of the building known as "La Licuadora" --The Blender- in the city of Guayaquil. Architecture, from the theoretical point of view is considered the "web of meanings" whose reading depends on the cultural comprehension level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is concerned with the industries established in the second half of the twentieth century, along Avenida Rancho Boyeros, as an expression of the industrial heritage of the Modern Movement in Cuba. The theme, scarcely addressed in the literature, was a motivation for the development of this inquiry whose results can help in the formation of a national public awareness that values the industrial heritage and its local significance. For the development of this work numerous documentary sources were consulted, both bibliographic and archival. Interviews were also conducted as well as in situ observations, combining empirical and theoretical methods for processing and discussing the results. The findings allowed the identification of modern industries along the axis of Rancho Boyeros in the second half of the twentieth century, its authors and its heritage values, which can serve as an important reference for its recognition and protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main cooling strategy in warm climates, as that of Cuba, is the solar control. However, the sun brake was in disuse, so glass windows without solar protection was increased and the costs of its affectations were ignored. The objectives of this paper are: to characterize the historical evolution of the use of brise-soleil as a shady resource and to obtain the designing angles for solar protection elements so that they can be more efficient and economic. Through virtual simulation (validated through a scale model experiment) the parameters proposed by the current rules and other national documents regarding the design of solar protection in architecture were checked. The criterion for a single type of solar protection element in the north and south facades in the city of Camaguey was changed. Besides, it was demonstrated that multiple elements are more efficient. On the other hand, optimized angles for the design of these elements were proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the period of colonial Havana had sculptural works and monuments, first made by foreign artists and then from the late nineteenth century, also by Cuban sculptor. This paper makes a brief review of outstanding examples of sculpture in the Centro Habana municipality and also addresses, for their significance examples located in a border area with Old Havana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper briefly describes the stages of the historical evolution of the town of Matahambre, the physical spatial characteristics that identify the town and distinguish it in the Cuban geography with forms that characterize the settlement which adapts to the rough topography and the vegetation during the process of urbanization. All this makes up a peculiar place, with a rustic architecture that has been coined as a wild landscape. Lastly, cultural values as well as historical memories and attributes which give matahambre the features of a cultural landscape are shown in this work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is submitted an analysis and reflexions on the Villa Stein-de Monzie, a project by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret developed in 1926 with special emphasis in their proposal for the garden at level 0.0. But this pro-ject never been built, however the new concepts applied in it and probably, due to this, there is no so much literature about the project. The author does professional and astute suppositions that permit us to imagine and to walk in the today's inexistent garden. Without doubts in this paper it is possible find an interested lesson of History of Architecture, in particular about the Le Corbusier heritage and his collaborator Pierre Jeanneret. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]