Welcome to a new Cuban revolution… only this time we are going to take the city over though design and architecture.

Havana is a wonderful place, filled with life and unique retro vibes. In this competition, we want you to engage with the Cuban flavour like a true Habanero and channel this city’s pulsating energy into your own architectural visions for a renewed Malecon.

Havana is a pearl in the rough, oozing architectural potential from every window, every door, every crumbling balcony and every tired facade adorning its varied streets. In this competition, we ask you to make the most of this potential and focus your energy on the iconic Malecon as a renewed symbol for what this city could evolve into. But this competition isn’t just about rethinking a sea promenade for Havana, it is about protecting the city from threats from the sea and imagining a new wave of socio-cultural design-led revival: inspiring positive change in a city which has been frozen in time since the mid 20th century and which is in desperate need to come of age in our contemporary world.

This competition focuses on three areas: protection in the form of a renewed sea defence, engagement in the form of new cultural social spaces along the Malecon, and identity in the form of resurrecting an old icon back to life and defining a new beginning for Havana in the 21st century.

So grab your maracas, cocktails, classic cars, cigars and salsa heels and come shake up Havana’s Malecon!