1950年由著名的华莱士·哈里森和麦克斯·艾布拉莫维茨团队设计，他们是中情局兰利总部的建筑师和许多其他公民项目的建筑师。1953年，大使馆获得了巨大的好评。同年，它在现代艺术博物馆举办的“国务院建筑”展览上获得了突出的地位，与这两人在里约热内卢的另一个领事馆以及来自世界各地的其他七个大使馆一起获得了突出的地位。哈瓦那的计划简单而优雅：一层是一层，有两个庭院，里面有信息、签证和领事服务台，还有一座受挫办公大楼，里面有外交办公室和更敏感的政府使团的行动基地。[1]大使馆的干净线条和简单的长方形几何图形，穿着进口的石灰华板，既体现了国际风格现代主义的工业美学，也体现了美国文化被蚕食所带来的似乎不可避免的影响。

Designed in 1950 by the renowned team of Wallace Harrison and Max Abramovitz, architects of the CIA Headquarters at Langley and a host of other civic projects, the embassy was completed to great critical acclaim in 1953. It earned a prominent place that same year in an exhibition on “Architecture for the State Department” at the Museum of Modern Art, alongside another consulate by the duo in Rio de Jainero and seven other embassies from around the world. The scheme in Havana was simple and elegant: a sprawling ground floor level with two courtyard patios that contained information, visa, and consular desks, and a setback office tower that housed diplomatic offices and bases of operations for more sensitive government missions. [1] Clad in imported travertine panels, the embassy's clean lines and simple rectangular geometries epitomized both the industrial aesthetic of International Style modernism and the seemingly inescapable influence of encroaching American culture.

 © Bin im Garten

本·伊姆·加滕

建筑物的外观不仅散发出帝国主义的存在，而且它的概念和结构也是如此。为了还清第二次世界大战遗留下来的债务，几个欧洲国家通过提供原材料和直接货币支持为使馆提供资金。例如，钙华外观由意大利政府提供，而其他材料则从法国、比利时和英国出口，以减轻这些国家的债务负担。[2]

Not only did the appearance of the building exude an imperialist presence, but so too did its conception and construction. In order to work off their leftover debts from the Second World War, several European countries contributed to the financing of the embassy through the provision of raw materials and direct monetary support. The travertine façade, for example, was provided by the Italian government, while other materials were exported from France, Belgium, and England in order to reduce those countries’ debt burdens. [2]

 Pre-renovation photograph of the embassy. Image © U.S. Department of State

大使馆翻新前的照片。美国国务院

与其名称相符的是，国际风格现代主义的吸引力与关注地区敏感性或当地条件无关。它的理论渊源作为标准化大规模生产的通用架构，一般排除了在项目一级进行语境适应的必要性(有时甚至是能力)。因此，虽然哈里森和阿布拉莫维茨对大楼附近的环境表现出象征性的兴趣，但这只是对更大的设计概念的一种事后考虑，早期环境调整的尝试结果好坏参半。例如，建筑师们将薄薄的办公大楼排列在南北轴线上，希望通过大的可操作的窗户拦截海岸线上强烈的东西风。[3]虽然这些窗户的本意很好，但其通风和抵消玻璃外墙灼热温室效应的实际能力微乎其微，而且不可靠，最终导致1997年进行了大规模的机械和材料翻新。[4]

True to its name, the appeal of International Style modernism had little to do with a concern for regional sensitivity or local conditions. Its theoretical origins as a universal architecture of standardized mass production generally precluded the necessity (and sometimes the capacity) of contextual adaptation at the project level. Accordingly, while Harrison and Abramovitz displayed a token amount of interest in the building’s immediate environs, it was only as an afterthought to the larger design concept, and early attempts at environmental tuning were met with mixed results. For example, the architects aligned the thin office block on a north-south axis, hoping to intercept the strong east-west winds of the shoreline through large operable windows. [3] Well intended though they were, the actual ability of these windows to ventilate the building and offset the searing greenhouse effect of the glass facades was minimal and unreliable, ultimately leading to an extensive mechanical and material renovation in 1997. [4] 

 Rear view. The mechanical additions from the 1997 renovation are visible on the roof. Image © Escla

后视镜。1997年修缮后的机械设备在屋顶上清晰可见。图像C.Escla

这座建筑与另一个更为著名的外交宫有着惊人的相似之处，这绝非巧合。虽然纽约联合国秘书处大楼(1952年)的建筑常常被认为是尼迈耶和勒柯布西耶设计的两个巨人，但实际上是哈里森负责国际合作。和驻哈瓦那大使馆一样，秘书处有一个长方形的脚印，沿南北轴线排列。窗户覆盖东面和西面；实心的浅色面板覆盖北部、南部和最上面的轮廓.其结果是一个大写圆周率(Π)的形式，这个计划被重新部署到世界各地的项目中。[5]虽然联合国原型主要是尼迈耶的创意-五年后在巴西利亚使用该方案取得了巨大成功-但作为榜样的成功无疑受到哈瓦那哈里森的赞赏和借鉴。

It is no coincidence that the building bears a remarkable resemblance to another, more famous house of diplomacy. While the architecture of the United Nations Secretariat Building in New York (1952) has often been attributed to Niemeyer and Le Corbusier, two of the giants behind its design, it was actually Harrison that was placed in charge of the international collaboration. Like the embassy in Havana, the Secretariat has an oblong, rectangular footprint aligned along a north-south axis. Windows cover the east and west facades; while solid, light-colored panels cover the north, south, and uppermost profiles. The result is the form of a capital pi (Π), heavily outlined and infilled with glass, a scheme that has since been redeployed in projects around the world. [5] Although the UN prototype was primarily the brainchild of Niemeyer—who used the scheme to great success five years later in Brasilia—its success as a model was undoubtedly appreciated and borrowed by Harrison in Havana.

 © U.S. Department of State

美国国务院

在更广泛的、全球的政治气候背景下，以这种特殊风格建造大使馆的深思熟虑的决定具有重要的文化意义。现代主义故意代表了美国希望能够激励世界效仿的政治价值观：通过技术和工业化机制实现繁荣和机会的承诺。在冷战的背景下，同样重要的是，战前苏联大使馆建筑的古典主义反映了对这一哲学的辩证对立：帝国主义的不朽、威吓和壮丽。[6]虽然苏联在国外的建筑最终使其与无产者的价值观更加一致，但就目前而言，这些截然不同的做法确定了冷战时期更为耐人寻味和多产的文化战场之一。

The calculated decision to build the embassy in this particular style had important cultural meaning in the context of the broader, global political climate. Modernism deliberately represented the political values that the United States hoped would inspire the world to follow in its lead: a promise of prosperity and opportunity through the mechanisms of technology and industrialization. In the context of the Cold War, it was equally important that the classicism of prewar Soviet embassy architecture reflected a dialectic opposition to this philosophy: one of imperialist monumentality, intimidation, and grandeur. [6] Although Soviet architecture abroad eventually made an about-face to align more congruently with its proletarian values, for the time being, these contrasting approaches defined one of the Cold War’s more intriguing and prolific cultural battlefields.

 © Flickr user Terry Feuerborn

Flickr用户TerryFeuerborne

由于外部政治和军事环境，这种通过建筑机制向意识形态发出的呼吁对美国来说最终是失败的，该建筑作为官方大使馆的作用也是短暂的。1959年的古巴革命和菲德尔·卡斯特罗(Fidel Castro)建立了苏联结盟的共产主义政府，导致1961年美国和古巴断绝了外交关系。美国政府从该岛撤走官方存在，有效地将钥匙交给瑞士大使馆进行保护，使其得以维持主权地位，并享有居住者的外交豁免权。自1977年卡特总统谈判达成部分缓和以来，这座大楼内一直有一个名为“美国特别利益科”的深奥的名称，这是一个非正式的外交前哨，目前仍在瑞士政府的主持下正式运作。

Due to external political and military circumstances, this appeal to ideology through architectural mechanisms was ultimately unsuccessful for the United States, and the building’s role as an official embassy was short-lived. The Cuban Revolution of 1959 and Fidel Castro’s installation of a Soviet-aligned communist government led to the severing of diplomatic ties between the United States and Cuba in 1961. Removing its official presence from the island, the U.S. Government effectively handed the keys to the Swiss Embassy for safeguarding, allowing the building to maintain its sovereign status and the diplomatic immunity of its occupants. Since the partial detente negotiated by President Carter in 1977, the building has housed the abstrusely titled “U.S. Special Interests Section,” a unofficial diplomatic outpost still operating formally under the auspices of the Swiss government.

 Anti-Imperialist Plaza in front of the Embassy

大使馆前的反帝国主义广场

这座建筑作为意识形态工具的作用从未减弱过。除了其作为美国帝国主义灯塔的持久的象征作用之外，人们普遍猜测这座建筑已成为中央情报局在该岛开展行动的基地，这使古巴公众的敌意合法化。在布什(Bush)第二届政府执政期间，美国政府故意在大楼外墙上发布人权信息，进一步加剧了紧张局势。作为回应，古巴政府在大楼前的“反帝国主义广场”上竖起了138面旗帜，以阻挡这些信息。[7]这场建筑上的“撒尿竞赛”一直持续到2009年，当时奥巴马总统就职时曾承诺要彻底改善美国与古巴的关系。[8]

The building’s function as an ideological instrument has never subsided. In addition to its enduring symbolic role as a beacon of U.S. imperialism, rampant speculation that the building has served as a base for CIA operations on the island has legitimized the enmity of the Cuban public. During the second Bush administration, the U.S. government increased tensions further by deliberately flashing human rights messages across the façade of the building. In response, the Cuban government erected 138 flags on the “Anti-Imperialist Plaza” in front of the building to block the messages out. [7] This architectural “pissing contest” continued until 2009, when President Obama took office amid promises to overhaul embittered U.S. relations with Cuba. [8]

 "Monte de las Banderas" (Mount of the Flags). Image © Flickr user Eunheui

“蒙特德拉斯班德拉斯”(旗帜之山)。图片c Flickr用户Eunheui

随着紧张局势的解冻，这座建筑正准备更新其作为合作象征的最初目的，测试建筑作为社会集体记忆中一种唤起性、符号学上充满活力的对象的功能的弹性。作为未来美国大使馆的未来之家，这座建筑是否能像L‘esprit Nuveau曾经承诺的那样，再次代表一个更美好未来的乐观愿景？或者，这个物质对象会永远被它与更黑暗的政治过去的联系所玷污吗？也许这就是建筑具有新意义的持久能力，而建筑师们可能只是无能为力的Geppetos，这些东西的制造者注定要承担起他们自己的生活。

With a thaw in tensions now imminent, the building is poised to renew its original purpose as a symbol of collaboration, testing the resiliency of architecture’s function as an evocative, semiologically charged object of society’s collective memory. As the likely home of the future U.S. Embassy, can the building again come to represent the optimistic vision of a better future, as was once promised by L’Esprit Nouveau? Or will the physical object be forever sullied by its associations with a darker political past? Perhaps this is the enduring capacity of architecture to take on new meaning, against which architects may be but powerless Geppettos, makers of objects destined to take on lives of their own.

[1]Friedman，Andrew。隐蔽之都：否认的景观和美国帝国在北弗吉尼亚郊区的建立。加利福尼亚大学出版社，2013年。

[1] Friedman, Andrew. Covert Capital: Landscapes of Denial and the Making of U.S. Empire in the Suburbs of Northern Virginia. University of California Press, 2013.

[2]“前美国驻古巴哈瓦那大使馆”。Docomomo(现代运动的建筑物、场地和社区的文件和保护国际委员会)。2014年12月29日访问：http：/www.docomomo-us.org/登记簿/fiche/原_美国_大使馆_哈瓦那_古巴。

[2] “Former United States Embassy, Havana, Cuba.” DoCoMoMo (International Committee for the Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites, and Neighborhoods of the Modern Movement). Accessed 29 Dec. 2014 at http://www.docomomo-us.org/register/fiche/former_united_states_embassy_havana_cuba.

[3]Wise，Michael Z.“美国驻古巴哈瓦那大使馆的建筑重要性”建筑师杂志。2014年12月23日。2014年12月29日，Accceed，网址：http：/www.builtmagine.com/Architecture/the-未来-美利坚合众国-驻哈瓦那大使馆-古巴_o.aspx。

[3] Wise, Michael Z. “The Architectural Importance of the U.S. Embassy in Havana, Cuba.” Architect Magazine. 23 Dec. 2014. Acccseed 29 Dec. 2014 from http://www.architectmagazine.com/architecture/the-future-united-states-embassy-in-havana-cuba_o.aspx.

[4]“关于美国利益科”。美国利息科。2014年12月29日在http://havana.usint.gov/about_the_usint.html.查阅

[4] “About the U.S. Interests Section.” United States Interest Section.” Accessed 29 Dec. 2014 at http://havana.usint.gov/about_the_usint.html.

[5]例如，见南拉纳克郡理事会苏格兰总部；萨拉热窝希腊-波斯尼亚-黑塞哥维那友谊大厦；爱沙尼亚索克斯酒店Viru；巴西利亚国民议会大楼。

[5] See, for example, the South Lanarkshire Council headquarters in Scotland; the Greece-Bosnia-Herzegovinia Friendship Building in Sarajevo; the Sokos Hotel Viru in Estonia; and the National Congress Building in Brasilia.

[6]罗宾，罗恩·西奥多。“美国飞地：1900-1965年美国海外政治建筑的修辞”。新泽西：普林斯顿大学出版社，1992年。

[6] Robin, Ron Theodore. Enclaves of America: The Rhetoric of American Political Architecture Abroad, 1900-1965. New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1992. 

[7]Gualy，Natalie。“重新连接古巴的滨水区；革命后的哈瓦那城市战略。”华盛顿大学硕士论文。2012年。2015年1月2日访问https：/Digal.lib.wasington.edu/Research works/bitstream/Handle/1773/21897/gualy_Washington_0250O_10753.pdf.txt？Sequence=2。

[7] Gualy, Natalie. “Reconnecting Cuba’s Waterfront; An Urban Strategy for Post-Revolution Havana.” Master’s Thesis, University of Washington. 2012. Accessed 2 Jan. 2015 from https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/21897/Gualy_washington_0250O_10753.pdf.txt?sequence=2.

[8]一般见，罗，迈克尔。“哈瓦那从地面。”赫芬顿邮报。2009年5月23日。2015年1月3日检索网址：http：/www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rowe/哈瓦那-from-the-land_b_190249.html。

[8] See generally, Rowe, Michael. "Havana from the Ground." Huffington Post. 23 May 2009. Retrieved 3 January 2015 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-rowe/havana-from-the-ground_b_190249.html.

哈里森建筑师

Architects Harrison & Abramovitz Location Calzada Street Category Embassy Project Year 1953 Photographs Escla, U.S. Department of State, Bin im Garten, Flickr user Terry Feuerborn, Flickr user Eunheui