On Thursday, January 12, 2023, Italian architect Vittorio Garatti passed away in Milan, Italy, at the age of 96. His work was highly influential in Cuba, where he designed significant buildings such as the National Art Schools of Cuba with Ricardo Porro and Roberto Gottardi.
Born in Milan in 1927, he graduated with a degree in architecture from the Politecnico di Milano in 1957. His career subsequently led him to teach at the Central University of Venezuela and to establish a prominent presence in Cuba. Commissioned by Fidel Castro and Ernesto Guevara in 1960 –during the post-Cuban Revolution period– his work on the National Art Schools is characterized by an organic architecture that employs traditional Catalan elements, such as tile vaulting (bóveda tabicada).
The architects were guided by three fundamental principles: first, to integrate the schools with the diverse and wild landscape; second, to use locally produced brick and terracotta tiles, which, following the United States embargo on Cuba, were cheaper than imported materials such as steel and cement; and third, to use the Catalan vault as the dominant architectural element. Its unique spatial morphology would stand in contradiction to the geometric and "capitalist" architecture of the International Style.
- Gili Merin. AD Classics: National Art Schools of Cuba / Ricardo Porro, Vittorio Garatti, Roberto Gottardi
