Solar Village

Catete, Angola
Photo © Manuel Correia
Photo © Manuel Correia
Photo © Manuel Correia
Photo © Manuel Correia
Photo © Manuel Correia
Photo © Manuel Correia
Photo © Manuel Correia
Photo © Manuel Correia
Photo © Manuel Correia
Photo © Manuel Correia
arkkitehdit
Costa Lopes Arq
Location
Estrada Nacional 110, Catete, Angola
Year
2012

Aldeia Solar (Solar Village) lies on the banks of Lake Lalama in the Town of Cabiri, some 50 km from the Angolan capital. On a ridge line wide enough to accommodate an expanse of approx. 100 hectares, it was designed to house some 500 low-income families that live mostly from farming.

At the intersection of the Funda – Catete road and a local road, one takes a gently undulating dirt road, the ochre colour of which contrasts with the verdant fresh of the tropical lemongrass on either side.

Slowly, the low, one-slope roofs facing multiple directions emerge in the gently rolling landscape amongst the famous “upside-down” baobab trees that have grown in the area for hundreds of years.

Each house (with 3 to 5 rooms, a bathroom and a built-in kitchen area) brings a promise of self-sustainability for the resident (with each plot being 210 sq. m in size to allow them to raise animals and plants crops).

A multitude of social facilities (school, community centre, workshops, health centre, open-air market, amphitheatre, sports fields, shopping spaces and collective vegetable gardens) promotes the ideal of communal living.

Design
José Forjaz

Client
Institutional

Site
100 ha

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