Club Náutico

Club Náutico (Nautical Club) was a prestigious institution in Havana society, was originally built in the 1920s. By the 1950s, an increase in membership necessitated expansion of the original premises and Max Borges-Recio designed (1953) an enormous set of porticos covered by vaults not unlike the ones he recently constructed for the Tropicana Club. Here, as in the Tropicana, he used the difference in height between sections of the vaults for skylights and the sensual curl of the reinforced concrete shells. Although the Nautical Club is more squat and massive than its predecessor, its benefits from a site in which light and beautifully complement the architectonic structure, establishing an almost literal analogy with the waves of the sea nearby. It is located at Terminus of 152, Nautico, Playa, Havana, Cuba.

References

• The Havana Guide - Modern Architecture 1925-1965, Eduardo Luis Rodriguez (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000) ISBN 1-56898-210-0

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