Solar Village

Catete, Angola

Photo © Manuel Correia

Architecten: Costa Lopes Arq

Locatie: Estrada Nacional 110, Catete, Angola
Jaar: 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