. 4. When looking at the Architecture of Cuba - what is one difference you noticed between buildings constructed during the Soviet Era(1960s-present) as opposed to those constructed during colonial times(1700-1800s)

Yo! A Cuban here that lived in the Island for 11 years.

Explanation:

The building during the colonial times were built for rich Families of whites (usually plantation owners of either tobacco or sugar cane). This meant that the houses were a lot more unique and colorful since every wealthy family wanted to show their power. However, although each house was unique, the majority of these houses still followed a similar Spanish Villa type of building which is essentially a 2 story house with an open space in the middle with views to the sky. A lot of these houses can still be found in Havana today though they now belong to everyday Cubans and instead of 1 wealthy family, there are 5+ families in a single house which is divided into different rooms.

After the communist revolution though, the houses followed a soviet style of building. these are large apartment buildings of at least 5 stories with identical apartments with 2-3 rooms. These buildings were often left with the bare concrete and no paint to reduce costs. These apartments were then sold individually to families for a relatively cheap price so that all Cubans could have a place to live. This is why the homelessness percentage of Cuba is so low. Also, this style of housing follows the socialist ideology of "the same for everyone" since everybody in the building had the same number of rooms, space, and so on.

wow ion know lmso prolly like de la minllana or somethin