Ad Urbis is a Cuban collective navigating the complexities of inserting contemporary architecture into a high-value heritage context like Havana, prioritizing above all architectural research, theory, and practice across the realms of design and education.

We interviewed the collective to explore their reflections, workflows, the relationship between practice and academia, and their upcoming projects and outlook for the future of architecture in Cuba. 

Ad Urbis is a Cuban collective that navigates the unique challenges of integrating contemporary architecture into highly valuable heritage contexts—such as the capital city of Havana—by promoting architectural research, theory, and practice at the intersection of design and education.

We interviewed the group to discuss their reflections, design workflows, the relationship between professional practice and academia, their upcoming projects, and their outlook on the future of Cuban architecture.

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ArchDaily is proud to announce the 2020 Young Practices selection. This premier edition highlights emerging offices that are providing innovative approaches, proposals, and solutions to some of the main challenges Humankind is facing right now. From climate crisis to racial and gender issues. From technological disruption to social cohesion. These challenges are shaping the evolution of architecture, leading the discipline towards a new society and a new economy.

Chosen from over 350 submissions from 72 countries and 215 cities, all over the world, the selected firms reflect the sequential changes architecture has been navigating through over the last twenty years, with the rise and latter consolidation of new technologies, tools, formats, topics, scales, and interdisciplinary approaches.

"What Are We Talking About When We Talk about Contemporary Cuban Architecture?" is the title of the article written by Fernando Martirena in Rialta Magazine that delves into the reality of architecture within Cuban society. Essentially, it receives so little attention that it might as well not exist. This prompted the birth of the Cuban Architecture Studios Group (Grupo de Estudios Cubanos de Arquitectura), of which Martirena is a member, a collective that aims to give modern Cuban architecture a platform and a voice.

ArchDaily sat down with Martirena to talk about the group and the state of architecture today in his native Cuba.