CIUDAD LIBERTAD II

An autonomous space of exception 

 The primary goal is to offer a platform for ambitious innovators and experiment-ors to build their futures. It does this by assuming a level of autonomy from the state, allowing the millennial generation to have a stake in their country whose the revolutionary project has somewhat left them behind. 

Cuban millennials have grown-up during times of crisis and scarcity, without the freedom to improve their situation, alienated by restricted private enterprise, limited access to information and  other liberties. This said, with a distinctly Cuban resourcefulness, creative people are finding ways through and a new breed of entrepreneur is emerging.

The revolution must revolve.

The theoretical fuel for the project is a reflection on the meaning of Autonomy; its contradictions and dependencies; and its relation to architecture.

To maintain autonomy, unavoidable contingencies and changes over time should be facilitated, deviating from a strict masterplan. Therefore five nodes, each focusing on particular areas of innovation, are distributed around the site providing a basic infrastructure and creating a disposition for further development allowing much of the site to remain loose and unprogrammed.

 The energy of the revolution came, in part, from the idea of endless possibility; this sense of freedom should not only be facilitated, but maintained through the architecture of spaces of autonomy. A revolution of the revolution.