FOCSA Building

FOCSA Building
General information
Type	Residential
Architectural style	Modern
Location	El Vedado
Address	17 y M Havana, Cuba
Groundbreaking	February, 1954
Estimated completion	June, 1956
Cost	7,000,000 pesos
Owner	CMQ Radio TV network
Height
Height	121 Meters
Top floor	Observation room
Technical details
Structural system	wall and slab
Material	7000 PSI concrete
Size	11" wall, 6.75" slab
Floor count	39
Floor area	830,000 sq. ft. (res)
Lifts/elevators	4 tenant + 2 service
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Ernesto Gómez Sampera
Developer	Fomento de Obras y Construcciones, Sociedad Anónima
Structural engineer	Luis Sáenz Duplace
Other designers	Arch. Martin Dominguez
Main contractor	Bartolome Bestard and Manuel Padron
Other information
Number of rooms	373 apartments
Parking	500 car spaces

The FOCSA Building was built in 1956 and named after the contracting company, Fomento de Obras y Construcciones, Sociedad Anónima. It is 121 metres tall and located in the Vedado section of Havana. At the time it was built, concrete buildings more than 18 storeys tall were not considered economically feasible. The structural engineer was Luis Sáenz Duplace, the architect was Ernesto Gómez Sampera (1921–2004).

Location

View from the bar-restaurant "La Torre", on the FOCSA's 33rd floor.

The FOCSA Building is located on a site bordered by Calles 17 and M and Calles 19 and N in El Vedado.

History

In 1952 the Cuban national communications network, CMQ Radio and TV Network, located at Calle Rampa and M in El Vedado section of Havana, planned to provide administrative offices, a radio station and housing for artists and employees. The owners of CMQ selected a 110,000 sq. ft. plot of land costing approximately 700,000 pesos.

In the early 1960s middle-class owners of residential as well as owners of commercial lower floor units had their properties nationalized by the current government. In the 1970s the building housed Soviet and Eastern bloc specialists and advisors and the ground store supermarket was for non-Cubans only. In 2000 an elevator cable snapped killing one person. In the 2000s the building was repainted and renovated and much of the building was given over to temporary housing of foreign guest workers, primarily from Venezuela.

Construction

The high strength concrete design mix was from 3,000 to 7,000 psi. per a standard 6x12” cylinder-28 day test. Reinforced concrete columns support the podium five stories above grade. The residential block is supported by thirteen reinforced eleven inch thick concrete transverse walls which support the dead load and divide the apartments. An additional wall at the center two apartments, F and G, resist shear forces perpendicular to the each of the long legs of the Y. Fig. The walls along with two way six and three quarter inch thick concrete floor slab form a three dimensional lattice resisting horizontal hurricane forces. The walls /extend horizontally through the rear walls to support the corridors.

The company Fomento de Hipotecas Aseguradas (FHA) financed 80% of the cost of the residences and 60% of the commercial shops. El Banco Continental Cubano granted a credit of 6 million pesos.

Work began in February 1954 and finished in June 1956. It was the second largest residential concrete building in the world, second only to the Martinelli Building in São Paulo, Brazil.

The building was chosen in February 1997 by the Unión Nacional de Arquitectos e Ingenieros de la Construcción de Cuba (UNAICC) as one of the seven wonders of Cuban civil engineering.

Distribution / Layout

The FOCSA is 121 meters high and has 39 floors 9 of which are dedicated to commercial purposes, the other 30 floors are for residential use with a total of 373 apartments. There is a swimming pool and a club at the podium level and a 500-car garage under the podium. The site may may be divided into three parts: 1- A shallow, mixed use “wall and slab” Y of 35 floors above a base. 2- The podium of outdoor amenities for guests and tenants covering the entire site. 3- Four floors of services and commercial spaces below the podium. The architects wanted all apartments to have views of the Malecon and western Havana and maximize cross ventilation.

The ​Typical floors contain 13 apartments, 5 have 3 bedrooms and a maid room. The cost of the apartments was $21,500 for the larger units and $17,500 for the smaller ones. It was stipulated that an additional $30 per each floor was charged the higher the unit was located and the highest apartments were the first that were sold.

Distribution of the program on the site is as follows:

• 
  Typical floor plan shows service and tenant stairs from tenant corridor.
• Apartments are one half floor up or down from corridors.
  Apartments are one half floor up or down from corridors.
• 
  Typical apartment floor plan showing service and tenant stairs to two different corridors on two different levels.

Residences are located in 30 stories of the high rise and contain 373 apartments (7 penthouses, 2 duplexes) most with double exposure of views of the Malecon and Miramar. The apartments at either end of the long legs of the Y (A & L) and those located in the tower (M) have views in three directions. The tower also contains offices on the 33th floor for the restaurant, “La Torre,” on the 34th floor and an observation level on the 35th floor.

The building's four tenant and two service elevators and two sets of stairs are located in the tower and link to the corridors running the length of the building which in turn provide access through stairs, one half level up or down, to the apartments. One of the service elevators is for the offices, restaurant and the observation floor. The other service elevator is for the apartments and is linked to the service corridors. The seven penthouses have a dedicated elevator and their own corridor system different from that of the apartments below. The size of two apartments (A+B, C+D, E+F, etc.). Penhouses are located on the thirtieth floor which itself acts as a plinth and made possible by the structural walls which stop below this floor. The penthouses on the top floor, have courtyards patios open to the sky. All floors are terrazzo on cinders.

The podium at the fifth level of the building, is the size of the site and is two stories above street level. It contains a clubhouse, offices, a swimming pool for adults and another for children. It also has gardens, paths and benches. There is a ramp to the street located at the corner of 19th and M, the podium was used as a staging area during the construction of the project.

Below the podium at the fourth level are building offices. A tenant lobby and the building's desk are immediately inside. Reached by a circular stair, the tenant offices are located above.

At street level is the building's entrance. Located at 17 & M, there is a two lane, covered porte-cochѐre. Inside are a public relations office, the restaurant “El Emperador” and a supermarket. A bank, post office and theatres. Two radio stations (COCO and Radio Metropolitana) and various cafes situated around the perimeter of the site and through the interior along a double loaded corridor traversing the site from Calle M to N. Light filters to the interior corridor from openings in the podium. Underground, at the lowest two floors under the podium, is a 500 car garage.

Corridors

Visible on the rear elevation, the corridors are separated vertically by twenty inches for ventilation and views to the west. There are three sets of corridors that occur every other floor. The center corridor in any one group of three services four floors. The service corridors have dedicated stairs and elevators. The other two corridors, the longer ones, are for tenants. The service and tenant corridors are unrecognizable from the exterior elevation except for the service corridors are shorter in length as this reflects the location of the service stairs of the end units, A and L on plan. Service and tenant corridors are at different heights, each has dedicated elevators. From each apartment the exit stair goes up to the tenant corridor and down to the service corridor or vice versa thus naturally dividing the space of the apartment into service and served functions. There was initially a private elevator to each apartment (X apartment plan) but these were never installed.

• 
  Rear elevation showing tower apartments, tenant and service corridors.
• 
  Section at tenant (blue) stairs & tenant corridor.
• 
  Tenant (blue) & service (red) stairs from apartments to corridors.
• 
  Interior of service corridor.

Western View

The twenty inch separation between corridors for cross ventilation of the apartments and views to the west.

• 
  Section shows twenty inch vertical corridor separation allowing cross ventilation and view to the west.
• 
  Twenty inch separation.

Gallery

• FOCSA Building Photographs
• 
  Entrance elevation showing tower.
  March, 2017
• 
  Tower
  March, 2017
• 
  Window between corridors, closeup.
  March, 2017
• 
  Tower exterior showing change in level.
  March, 2017
• 
  Tower detail showing north corner windows.
  March, 2017
• 
  Elevator lobby to tower apartment stairs.
  March, 2017
• 
  Entrance to apartment half a floor down.
  March, 2017
• 
  Apartment up to tenant corridor.
  March, 2017
• Tenant corridor to Apatments March, 2017
  Tenant corridor to Apatments
  March, 2017
• 
  Entrance to center apts. F and G. Original signage.
  March, 2017
• 
  Original signage.
  March, 2017
• 
  Service elevator, back stairs to tower apartment.
  March, 2017
• 
  Back stairs to tower apartments.
  March, 2017
• 
  Tenant corridor from elevator lobby.
  March, 2017
• 
  Main elevation from 13th floor.
  March, 2017
• 
  Roof showing penthouse courtyard openings.
  March, 2017

See also

•  Cuba portal