HOUSING IN LUANDA
LISBON ARCHITECTURE TRIENNALE – DESIGNING A FAMILY UNIT WITH PATIO IN LUANDA
Object of the contest: design a prototype of a family unit which leads to a patio, with a low construction cost, aimed at severely deprived families, typically consisting of 7-9 people, in an area of flat topography. The aim is to create a replicable model that reflects the social, economic and cultural specificity of Luanda, using systems, practices and materials which are commonly found in local architecture.
Plot: 250 sqm
Built area: 100 sqm
Budget/unit: 25.000 euro
Location: LUANDA, ANGOLA
Perhaps 70 percents of an Angolan family private urban living can occur in an open-air space. In this context, the room, the cellular unit is but one element in the whole system of spaces that people need in order to live. This gives the courtyard a usability coefficient slightly greater than that of an enclosed room.
Rather than designing one patio with one pavilion, we conceived the project as a bunch of multiple patios and pavilions, linked by a common inner wall. This design allows for intimacy, enhancing in the same time the interaction between people. The design of the multiple pavilions also recalls the way they build their own house: room by room, at different moments in time, accordingly with their needs; a vibrant image of the neighbourhood comes to life, in an ever evolving process.
The developed spaces are different, nevertheless overlapped in an intricate fabric in the same way their life is going: daily ordinary activities along with rituals and important events: birth, death, celebrations; sacred and profane.
The design concept is economic and functional using local materials: sun dried bricks and local wood for structure.
Object of the contest: design a prototype of a family unit which leads to a patio, with a low construction cost, aimed at severely deprived families, typically consisting of 7-9 people, in an area of flat topography. The aim is to create a replicable model that reflects the social, economic and cultural specificity of Luanda, using systems, practices and materials which are commonly found in local architecture.
Plot: 250 sqm
Built area: 100 sqm
Budget/unit: 25.000 euro
Location: LUANDA, ANGOLA
Perhaps 70 percents of an Angolan family private urban living can occur in an open-air space. In this context, the room, the cellular unit is but one element in the whole system of spaces that people need in order to live. This gives the courtyard a usability coefficient slightly greater than that of an enclosed room.
Rather than designing one patio with one pavilion, we conceived the project as a bunch of multiple patios and pavilions, linked by a common inner wall. This design allows for intimacy, enhancing in the same time the interaction between people. The design of the multiple pavilions also recalls the way they build their own house: room by room, at different moments in time, accordingly with their needs; a vibrant image of the neighbourhood comes to life, in an ever evolving process.
The developed spaces are different, nevertheless overlapped in an intricate fabric in the same way their life is going: daily ordinary activities along with rituals and important events: birth, death, celebrations; sacred and profane.
The design concept is economic and functional using local materials: sun dried bricks and local wood for structure.
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