Architecture of Angola

Angola

A west coast country in central and southern Africa, is the seventh largest country in Africa. Cabinda is a province of Angola, next to Congo and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Luanda is the capital and largest city of Angola. Angola gained its independence in 1975 and went through a difficult anti-colonial struggle before 1975 to become the Marxist–Leninist People's Republic of Angola. Angola is one of the world's fastest growing economies because of its rich mineral and oil reserves, but the living standards of most people are poor. Angola has the lowest average life expectancy in the world, yet Angola has the highest infant mortality rate. The disparity between the rich and the poor in Angola is also very large. Angola take part in the United Nations, African Union, and OPEC , the Community of Portuguese Language Countries, and also is the member of the Southern African Development Community. Angola is a diverse country. There are 25.8 million people distribution among many cultures, custom, and tribe. The culture of Angolan shows hundred years of controlling by Portuguese, influenced by the Portuguese language and the Catholic Church. ^[1]

Settlement patterns of Angola

Most of the rural population is concentrated in waterways near highlands and highlands. Only Bie plateau contains about half of the rural population. In the north and middle of the country, people live in villages, and in the south where cattle are important, an important tradition is to find pasture in scattered settlements and migratory areas. They live in remote areas like some nomads in southern parts of the country. The pattern of settlements has been affected by decades of war, which has led to the expansion of village settlements. Settlement patterns are also affected by forced labour; this practice existed during the pre-colonial period and continues to be practiced by Portuguese. At the end of the colonial era, the rural population accounted for four-fifths of the total population, a figure known to have fallen to three-fifths in the early 21st century. ^[2]

Modern Movement Migrations: Architecture in Angola

In the 20th century, the migration and spread of architectural models accelerated rapidly after World War II. This is an important feature of the modern movement is that the meaning of migration is related to the dissemination of regional culture or the flow of ideas and works. In such a fast flow, Angola's construction production is easy to understand. Architectural production in Angola and Mozambique reflects the special understanding of different authors at different times. There are many researches on the architectural style of Brazil. "Tropical" phenomenon often exists in the tropical and outer architectural languages. In the tropics, architecture is not strictly scientific, but aesthetic standards are sometimes more important. There are many different viewpoint about the concept of tropical architecture may be read in various ways. Normally, the “Tropical” is refer to the style of the architecture suiting with the tropical climate. Which means, the architecture is built by research the climate and the site. So, it consider many objective factors , such as location, space and programme organisation which is response to get the best sunlight or winds. Those factors is considered by the climate and site of the architecture obviously. ^[3]

The unique and distinctive architectural style of Angola’s cinemas

Cinema can be used as a landmark building in a country. In most cases we think of the film itself as the only important element, but many African countries realize that cinemas themselves are also meaningful. Goethe Institut Angola wants to restore the National Cinema, and they are collecting a little information about important cinemas. The aim of the campaign is to protect Angolan cinemas, which can be regarded as a national cultural heritage and attract foreign visitors as a modern building. The campaign began with a resumption of free fiction. The name is a photo coffee table book. The author is Walter Fernandez and Miguel Hester.^[4] Angola has found a new development point that is the appreciation of the cinema. The film making industry in Angola has never been famous, but by 1975 there were 50 cinemas. Until the end of the war in 2002, the oil boom broke out. The redevelopment and reconstruction of Angola has been a subject of rising praise and tingling lamentation for a muddy Africa. Angola has gone through a lot of construction. However, cultural space and historical heritage have not been well developed in general. Cine-esplanda was designed by Maria Alice Correia & F. Joao Guimaraes and Paula Nascimento (all architects). This design has opened up a new chapter for the cinema in Angola. Nascimento thinks that restoring the function mode of cinema is just as important as restoring architectural form. They believe that films play an important social role in people's lives and regard them as a space for drama, film and music. ^[5]

Angola’s housing

When the civil war ends in Angola, President Jose Eduardo DOS SantosAngola will build one million homes. Because most of the country's houses were destroyed due to the long civil war, the people at that time had serious housing shortages. A total of 100,000 hectares of land near Luanda, Benguela, Namibe, Lubango and Malange are planned for housing, mostly contracted by Chinese companies. Kilamba is a superstar city with 710 buildings and 20,000 apartments built in September 2012. In the first stage, 28 urban blocks were built. The northeast of North Luanda provides accommodation for nearly thirty thousand people.^[6] In 2009, the Housing Development Fund was set up by the Angolan government to help low-income families provide social housing. However, FFH investments are targeted only at government workers in national housing projects, such as the new city of Kiramba. The loan is extended for 30 years at a rate of 3%. To help more people, in 2013, the government introduced a subsidized rent-buy program for people with jobs and national citizenship through Sonangol Imobiliaria e-owned (SONIP), a real estate company owned by the state oil company. At the very beginning, the apartments in these projects were priced between $125 thousand and $200 thousand. But housing programs do not really address the cost of living because most of these housing projects are far from the city. Public transport is not very developed, which means that many residents rely on expensive private transport.^[7]

Annotation for each of the seven sources

I use the reference of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angola to get an overview of the Angola. It contributes to the first section. In this URL, I know the Angola is s the seventh largest country in Africa.,and some history and economic situation of Angola. I use the reference of https://www.athensjournals.gr/architecture/2018-4-1-2-Magalhaes.pdf to know the history of architecture in Angola. It contributes to the third section, in this section I write some old style of architecture in Angola. I understand that way in the ancient time the architecture of Angola was develop in that way. I use the reference of http://www.designindaba.com/articles/point-view/unique-and-distinctive-architectural-style-angola%E2%80%99s-cinemas to know the development of cinema in Angola. It contributes to my fourth section. By viewing this website, I get the point that the cinema can be considered as a mark building of a country, and the meaning of this building is better than the movies in sometimes. I use the reference of https://www.goethe.de/ins/za/en/kul/fok/auu/20842368.html to know the situation of cinema in Angola completely. It also contributes to my fourth section. I know cine-esplanda is vital in that period. I use the reference of https://www.architectural-review.com/essays/angolas-housing-estates-show-a-distinct-lack-of-thought-for-cultural-interaction/10019194.article to understand the development of housing in Angola. It contributes to my fifth section. In this website, I know that due to the combat in the Angola, there are many people who do not have accommodation in that time, so the president wants to built many housing in order to solve this problem. I use the reference of http://housingfinanceafrica.org/countries/angola/ to know some true situation of housing in the Angola. It contributes to my fourth section. In this URL, I know some funds which is offered by the government for the housing is nor equal to every residents. I use the reference of https://www.britannica.com/place/Angola to get the points that the settlement patterns of Angola. It contribute to the second paragraph. By reading this passage, I know there are too many rural people in Angola and the pattern of settlement is hardly influenced by the colonial period.

References