The project consisted on the development of a low cost house, in an abstract plot (10m x 25m) in the city of Luanda, more precisely, aimed for the more “degenerated” areas of the city. 

Attending to the Angolan’s cultural and geographical context, this project stands on a basilar idea deeply attached to the ways of life in black Africa, in its traditional and autochthonous sense: it concerns the permeability between the exterior and the interior. Looking carefully on the traditional dwelling in this part of Africa, one remarks, simultaneously, a clear demarcation between the private space and the public space and a crystalline relation between the private exterior space and its interior. The design of this patio house stands on this spatial aspect of African being and dwelling. Hence, while as an urban object, the body of the house plays the role of a membrane that establishes the passage from the public space to the private one. In its relation with the patio, due to the material of its fenestrations in harmonium, the transparency and dematerialization between the limits of the exterior and interior space are a constant aspect in the way of living the house. (See opened/closed scheme)

In order to create a street dynamic, one resorts to the deconstruction of the street’s façade, namely through a little patio that acts as the entrance moment of the house, where more public activities, namely activities of commercial or professional nature can be developed. The relation of this patio with the typological variations and its different dispositions will allow the street and urban configuration to be endowed of the desired dynamics (see plot typologies and urban planning, on the next pages).

Regarding the house as an object, it could assume diverse construction phases and different configurations; due to the possible mobility of the stairs and the first floor, these work together as independent cellules. It is also feasible an evolution of the construction, namely through auto-construction, due to the foreseen construction techniques of the house, and also the configuration of the first floor terraces, once these are equally buildable. 

The construction materials are predominantly the clayey earth, for the bearing walls and coatings, and wood for the structure. The harmonium doors for the patio are filled of translucent polycarbonate; when these are open, there’s the possibility to stretch a mosquito net, as a shutter, that allows physical isolation from the exterior, prevailing the visual relation with the patio.

Furthermore, due to possible constrains in the water supply in Luanda, the house is conceived to have a water tank, storage of rainwater, beneath the kitchen and living room area.

The cost of the house was estimated on 16’000€ (2010 Angolan material prices).