On the morning of Monday July 7, National Architecture Award winner Mario Coyula died of cancer, in Havana. Mario Coyula was one of the most outstanding Cuban architects of all time. Born June 16, 1935 in the Cuban capital, Coyula directed the School of Architecture in the José A. Hecheverría Advanced Polytechnic Institute. He was director of Havana Architecture and Urban Planning and of the Capital’s Comprehensive Development Group and first President of the Havana Monuments Commission. Coyula was a member of the Revolutionary Directorate and Second Lieutenant in the the Rebel Army Engineers Corps at the triumph of the Revolution. He was also co-designer of two prize wining commemorative monuments considered to be especially important in the field of architecture: the Parque Monumento de los Mártires Universitarios, on Infanta and San Lázaro, the first important monument erected after the triumph of the Revolution; Mausoleo de los Héroes del 13 de Marzo at the Colón Cemetery; he was creator of the Casa Duplex in Ciudad Escolar Camilo Cienfuegos; and noted co-designer on the renovation of the old Funeraria Caballero in the Casa de Cultura on La Rampa. Coyula was former editor of the magazine Arquitectura-Cuba, and member of the Councils of Editors of the magazines Arquitectura y Urbanismo, Temas and Revista Bimestre Cubana, at his time of death. Among his notable achievements are the publication of more than 200 articles, prologues, essays and reviews in various Cuban and foreign magazines. He presented lectures, workshops and debates in more than 40 universities and cultural centers in 20 countries. In 1990 he was named Fellow of the Special Interest Group in Urban Settlement (SIGUS) program and since 2001 has been a member of the International Architecture and Infrastructure Research Group (GRAI) and the Infrastructure, Architecture and Territory Research Laboratory (LIAT) headquarted in Paris. In 2002 he became the first visiting Cuban professor at Harvard University, teaching during the spring semester at the institution’s Postgraduate School of Design. From October-November 2006 he was a guest professor in the Urban Strategies Postgraduate Program, Angewandte, Vienna. Among the multiple awards he has received feature; the National Architecture Award; Joaquín Weiss Critics Awards; Association of International Art Critics Cuban chapter Essay Award; Important Academic Books Choice Award in the United States and the National Cultural Heritage Award (2013).
