Solar Village
Catete, Angola
- Architects
- 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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