Caribbean Modernist Architecture

In February and March 2008, the International Program and the Department of Architecture and Design at The Museum of Modern Art organised the Museum's first symposium on the modernist architecture of the Caribbean and bordering Latin American countries, in collaboration with the Caribbean School of Architecture at the University of Technology, Kingston, Jamaica. The goal was to encourage scholarly, curatorial and broader educational awareness. Topics covered included regional and international legacies, preservation, environmental sustainability and urban planning, as they relate to modernist architectural history and contemporary practice. The presenters were leading architects and architectural historians from the region, and attendees included their colleagues as well as local and international university students, policy makers, civic leaders and developers from Jamaica, the surrounding Caribbean isalnds and the United States. This illustrated volume, co-published by MoMA and Archivos de Arquitectura Antillana (AAA), an architectural journal based in the Dominican Republic, presents the papers from this critical symposium in both English and Spanish, making them accessible to a broader public.

In 1946, Robertson Ward embarked on the Caribbean's most successful architectural endeavor: Mill Reef Club. At a time when images of nuclear war stalked the American imagination and architects were preoccupied with the grimmer strains of modernism—skyscrapers, airports, and bunkers—Ward rebelled, creating instead the Mill Reef Club. This book presents an illustrated study of his amazing vision.

Between 1949 and 1960 Gerrit Rietveld made six designs for buildings and interiors on the island of Curaçao. Jan de Heer documents in the greatest detail Rietvelds entire body of work on Curaçao, culminating in the Monsignor Verriet Institute. He also sheds light on the relationship between Rietveld and Doctor Chris Engels, who was involved in all the projects either as client or as consultant.

A revealing collection of astonishingly fresh and undiscovered midcentury architecture and interiors in Havana. Caribbean design expert and historian Michael Connors leads the reader on an unprecedented tour in Havana of the stunning and architecturally important private homes and buildings that have been meticulously preserved, previously unphotographed, and mostly inaccessible to visitors. This lavish book represents the modern movement in Cuban architecture, from art nouveau and art deco to the flowering of high modernism just before the Revolution, spanning from the early 1900s to 1965. At a time when travelers are rediscovering Cuba, this volume offers a range of the city’s twentieth-century cultural achievements. The photographs, shot exclusively for the book, show examples from the artsy Vedado neighborhood, the seaside streets of Miramar, Central Havana, and Havana’s posh Country Club Park area. Included are iconic places such as Cuba’s remarkably futuristic National Schools of Art; the art deco landmark Bacardi building; Casa de Alfred von Schulthess by Richard Neutra; the stylish Habana Riviera Hotel, and its original 1957 interiors; the Hotel Nacional de Cuba designed by McKim, Mead & White, on Havana’s seaside drive the Malecón; and the world-famous Tropicana cabaret nightclub by architect Max Borges. Havana Modern is a pioneering book of modern design that shows a corner of the world where modern architecture thrived and has been carefully preserved.

"In-depth study examines buildings designed by Antonin Nechodoma in Puerto Rico and the influence of the Prairie School on his work. Includes chapters on Nechodoma's training in Chicago and residence in the Dominican Republic, as well as extended assessme

The books in the Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series demonstrate the University Press of Florida’s long history of publishing Latin American and Caribbean studies titles that connect in and through Florida, highlighting the connections between the Sunshine State and its neighboring islands. Books in this series show how early explorers found and settled Florida and the Caribbean. They tell the tales of early pioneers, both foreign and domestic. They examine topics critical to the area such as travel, migration, economic opportunity, and tourism. They look at the growth of Florida and the Caribbean and the attendant pressures on the environment, culture, urban development, and the movement of peoples, both forced and voluntary. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series gathers the rich data available in these architectural, archaeological, cultural, and historical works, as well as the travelogues and naturalists’ sketches of the area prior to the twentieth century, making it accessible for scholars and the general public alike. The Florida and the Caribbean Open Books Series is made possible through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, under the Humanities Open Books program.

Designed for anyone with an interest in touring major architectural works, the Guidebooks contain historical and descriptive information on key buildings, and practical information including maps, directions, addresses, and references for further reading.