Dallas Center for Architecture

The DCFA Architecture Film Series will begin 2013 with a screening of Unfinished Spaces, a film about the rediscovery of Cuba’s ambitious National Art Schools project, begun in the 1960’s.  

This special screening is a collaborative effort between the Dallas Architecture Forum, Dallas Center for Architecture, DOCOMOMO US NTX, and Preservation Dallas, along with our host, the Latino Cultural Center.  

Directed by Alysa Nahmias and Benjamin Murray, Unfinished Spaces examines Cuba's ambitious National Art Schools project which was designed by three young artists in the wake of Castro's Revolution, then neglected and nearly forgotten, before being ultimately rediscovered as a visionary architectural masterpiece.

In 1961, three young, visionary architects were commissioned by Fidel Castro and Che Guevara to create Cuba's National Art Schools on the grounds of a former golf course in Havana, Cuba. Construction of their radical designs began immediately and the school's first classes soon followed. Dancers, musicians and artists from all over the country reveled in the beauty of the schools, but as the dream of the Revolution quickly became a reality, construction was abruptly halted and the architects and their designs were deemed irrelevant in the prevailing political climate. Forty years later, the schools are in use, but remain unfinished and decaying. Castro has invited the exiled architects back to finish their unrealized dream.

All of the evening’s activities will take place at the Latino Cultural Center, 2600 Live Oak Street, Dallas, 75204. The event will begin with a reception at 6:00 p.m., followed by the 6:30 p.m. screening of the 86 minute film. After the film, there will be a brief 30 minute panel discussion and conversation with the audience.

The event is free and open to the public, but reservations are requested. To RSVP, e-mail info@DallasCFA.com and include Unfinished Spaces in the subject line.