Masters Thesis: "The Lightness of the City"
Formal Synthesis - Intermediate Phase
2017
Angola, Africa is home to Kilamba, a city on the outskirts of the capital Luanda, who’s very nature defies conventional notions of urban planning: or as it may be, the very embodiment of Western development practices that have been imposed on the African continent. Subsidized by Angolan oil and built with Chinese labor, Kilamba reflects a so far unsuccessful attempt of global powers employing local commodity surpluses to attract foreign capital.
The economic zone, or gated community, is currently at twenty-percent occupancy in this massive condominium development whose center remains both physically and ontologically empty. The majority of Angolan people live in poverty in the slums of Luanda, even while the new city largely remains unoccupied and financially out of reach due to the lack of a broad middle class. The distribution of wealth is largely at the higher end of social class, with political elites promising a better standard of living for the Angolan people in the form of Kilamba, despite the current wealth disparity in the country.
David Harvey describes a similar modern urban condition in which commodity surpluses have yet to be shared with the majority of urban dwellers, who have been excluded for the benefit of social elites. He proposes a broad social movement, in which surpluses are redistributed to the masses to achieve a power to shape their cities once again: a city that currently denies its own “place of existence” for the sake of capital circulation. Harvey underlines the intrinsic nature of power, capital and collective political discourse to achieve all forms revolutionary urbanism.
The proposed civil works project, at the heart of Kilamba City, assumes the broad shaping power of local Luandans within a revolutionary context, where commodities once shared with only a few are redistributed in new forms of power and capital. Once the political and economic potential is opened, a parity is achieved by the various stakeholders that can support future “systemic” development in the city as a place for everyone, that is, of all social class.
The central park corridor is elevated from its northern entryway that welcomes its people with an outdoor theatre that progresses to a library at its southern limit. The broad middle portion is home to a market and city hall, exchanging in political and economic dialogue. The city hall is a place where broad social movements can manifest themselves in “class discourse” for the purposes of shaping the new city in which they live, while ensuring an inclusionary politics. The library, at the city’s “head”, locates an archival knowledge base for the purposes of advancing research, while also being accessible to all citizens at all levels interest and intentionality. The theatre at the “foot”, is a place for celebration and dance, reflecting the intersections of Angolan ritual and folklore, with the emerging stories of the modern world. The city core “elevates” everyday occurrences by allowing its citizens to “flow” under and over the land, in free exchanges amongst the rivers and parklands reflected in the vast natural terrain of Angola.
Flow lines, representing historic trade routes, rivers and water systems become pathways within the city. Angolans will be able to sell local craft and produce in modern pavilions and markets, where their traditions and advancements are represented in museums, research centers and libraries. The notion of “lightness” embodies an elemental “flow”, where the adaptability and flexibility of a people is expressed in the city’s form. The architectural masses appear to “float” above the solidity of the world with structural integrity. The whole notion of program is in fact flexible, where architecture can change its function over time, while maintaining its basic typology.
An increasing Chinese influence also recalls ancient traditions brought back to Africa. Over millennia, nomadic people crossed vast continents out of Africa to the north and east. Now there is a return from the far east, where people settle and continue to work in the surrounding capital of Luanda. The ancient Chinese dragon is represented by this flowing parkland, where rational programmatic cores are protected by flying and undulating exteriors. Thus, new traditions are constantly formulated and reformulate within an increasingly adaptive framework.
