Reflections of the Colonial Past

This dissertation consists in an architecture project. It deals with the rehabilitation of the old Minerva typography building in Luanda (Angola) and emerges as a response to the need for rethinking the built heritage in this city, product of the Portuguese expansion during its explorations.

In the capital of Angola, the Minerva Cultural Centre is born. Question: What memories are intended to be preserved in the City? \nThe building is located in the heart of the city, and is composed by two fronts in a design that are structured by two streets of considerable historical value: the northern front is formed by Rua dos Mercadores, Travessa da Sé receives the eastern façade of the Minerva typography, articulating Largo Katadi and Largo Rainha Jinga which provides visual links to the Bay of Luanda.\nProgramme: Floor -1 professional training room, Floor 0, the atrium, the foyer/reception, craft workshop, rehearsal and multipurpose room; Floor 1, terrace, painting workshop, exhibition, mezzanine, the Plateau, tower viewpoint (the head of the sphinx). The proposal: To subtract the dissonant elements; to add a distribution tower; to preserve the structural morphology and the roofs; to value and preserve the character of the façades; to amplify the environments; to explore the eastern spring light; to seek visual framings for the bay of Luanda.\nOn the ground floor there is the reception area and also the atrium leading to the professional training room, which also serves as an auditorium on special occasions, and is buried within the limits of the atrium, so as not to compromise the pre-existing structural system as well as its primary character.\nAt the north entrance, there is a portal that provides a visual framework of the staircase leading to the plateau and from there one can observe the internal landscape. At the rear, there is a square groove outline which is a quote from Vasco Vieira da Costa's work in Luanda and at the front there is a tower which takes us back to ancient Egypt (the sphinx, the Giza plateau).\nThe Sphinx is the search for the outcome thats provide an experience capable of inviting the most relevant environment, the Bay of Luanda, to participate in cultural moments. Through a lifting platform, it is possible to reach a height of approximately 20 metres. The Sphinx is also able to look backwards due to a visual frame, and from the front it frames the São Miguel fortress.