Usually representing spirits, ancestors or the primordial couple, these figures were placed in shrines and treated with great respect. Through a wide range of style, scale, belief and function the couples depicted share a timeless, serene equality necessary to the continuity of their societies.

Sapiens Building / Costalopes

Architects: Costalopes
Location: Luanda, Angola
Interior Décor: Costalopes
Project Year: 2015
Photographer: Fabrice Fouillet
Website: www.costalopes.com

Gross Floor Area: 10,758 Sqm

- 26 December 2016
- Edwin Seda
Commercial , Commercial Centres , Contemporary , Contemporary African Directory , Editor's Choice , Selected Works ,

From the Architects:
The Sapiens Building is located in a former industrial zone 500 metres from the Avenida Marginal and the Bay of Luanda. The plot contains two other buildings: in the north-east, the headquarters of the INSS, the 14 storey Angolan Social Security; and in the south-east, a 20 storey residential building named Kings Tower.

The Sapiens Building, which rises to six storeys, occupies a south-western position. Though smaller in size, it stands out for its abstract and elegant trapezoidal form and, in particular, its significant contribution to the urban experience of the complex as a whole.

One enters the building from the south-west via a spacious hall, in which the perpendicularly aligned (east-west axis) central nucleus arises, where a public stairwell constitutes a feature element. Open to both sides of the nucleus, the staircase provides an insight on each floor into the dynamics of the building and its flows, movements and inner life, thus celebrating its social aspect.

Also, on each floors, the programme is divided into 4 distinct areas with a view to maximising the internal organisation of each department in the institute and to ensuring the best use of the common spaces by all the students during their free periods.

The Architecture is thus as a tool that combines education and cultural energisation.

CLICK TO REVIEW LINKED STORY

Currency Museum / Costalopes
The new Currency Museum is located on the bay waterfront of Luanda, in the heart of the city downtown, at the Major Saidy Mingas Square, nearby the charismatic headquarters of the National Bank of Angola. The program was pretext for two major interventions. On one hand, it dispose...

- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...
- © Sapiens Building. Costalopes Architects. Fabric...

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

If you want your own avatar and keep track of your discussions with the community, sign up to archiDATUM >>

SELECTED WORKS

- New British High Commission / Kilburn Nightingale Architects
- 18 May 2015
Designing an embassy or a consulate poses a myriad of challenges. Architects face a task to resist the temptation to design that which is...
- BDO_22 Wellington Road / Paragon Architects
- 01 Apr 2016
The BDO building lives to an agenda of a street relationship, something not seen much in South African commercial work. The restaurant pa...
- Kasungu Maternity Waiting Village / Mass Design Group
- 02 Jul 2016
Malawi suffers from one of the highest rates of maternal and infant mortality in the world: in 2010, one in thirty-six Malawian women had...

CONTEMPORARY AFRICAN DIRECTORY

- Gangouroubouro Primary School / LEVS Architecten
- 19 Dec 2016
In the open plain near the Malian village Gangouroubouro LEVS designed a new primary school. Similar to the primary school in Tanouan Ibi...
- 1:54 Contemporary African Art Fair
- 29 Jun 2015
A reference to fifty-four countries that constitute the African continent, the title of 1:54 establishes the parameters of the fair’s eth...
- The Mauritius Commercial Bank Ebene / Jean Francois Koenig Architect
- 25 Aug 2015
Few projects within Mauritius pride themselves in having a keen sense of contextual performance and impact. The Mauritius Bank Building h...