Part of the old Higher Institute of Design (ISDi) collapsed in the early hours of this Tuesday, a year after its previous collapse and plans demolition.
According to online reports, the collapse occurred around 1:00 a.m. this Tuesday, on the side facing Maloja Street.
The property had already suffered a previous collapse in San Carlos and presents immediate danger towards Belascoaín Street, a busy road in the capital.
In January 2025, the collapse of part of the building left no fatalities, but it obstructed four families’ access to their homes. According to the publication of reporter Lázaro Manuel Alonso in Facebookthe collapsed area had been declared in a state of collapse for four months, when the workers of the GECAL company began work on the progressive demolition of the structure.
Some time after the collapse, the journalist then added, construction companies were in charge of removing nearly 800 cubic meters of rubble from the site.
But since July 2024, independent media reported another collapse inside the building’s headquarters, which It closed its doors in 2022 due to a complicated architectural failure.
The Board of Directors then issued a releasein which it ensured the continuity of teaching activities in “other spaces at the UH”, despite the closure.
Errors in its reconstruction and lack of maintenance
Multiple modifications, such as the incorporation of two new levels and a theater, ended up putting the initial structure of the building at risk.
“As there were two different types of construction, the beam and board mezzanines and the reinforced concrete ones above, the structure was much more overloaded,” explained last year to Caribbean Channel engineer Ramón Casado Morales, project director of the Specialized Construction Services company (Secons).
According to Casado Morales, problems derived from the lack of maintenance were added to the building’s problems, taking into account the 165 years of existence of the property.
Among the works that would be carried out to prevent future collapses in the property, the bracing technique stood out, to “support” the façade wall and thus prevent the debris from damaging surrounding homes.
The demolition that was not
Before starting any project at the ISDi headquarters, the specialists previously indicated that they had to first demolish the entire damaged part of the structure and shore up others, tasks that would be concentrated in a period of three months.
After that time, a “report” would be made to evaluate the conditions in which the property was left after the demolitions, after which the headquarters would begin to be repaired with a new project.
New place for the ISDi
It was not until August 2025 that the Higher Institute of Industrial Design and Visual Communication (ISDi) announced that it would have a new headquarters at the intersection of 1st. and 32, in the Playa municipality, according to the official of the Party’s Central Committee, David Lahera, in his Facebook profile.
During the 2025–2026 academic year, classes continued temporarily in alternative spaces, while construction actions were carried out in the new facility, which until last year housed a Polytechnic Institute.
A reorganization process, coordinated by the Ministry of Education (MINED) and the central government, made the transfer possible, already completed in its administrative phase, said Lahera.
In more than 40 years of experience, the ISDi has graduated more than 3 thousand professionals. It was made official as a Higher Education Center on May 28, 1984, although it was on October 7 of the same year that it opened its doors for its first academic year with a total of 50 students.
