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T
he Casas Melhoradas project is conducted by the Institute of Architecture,
Urbanism & Landscape, at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts Schools
of Architecture, Design and Conservation, and is linked to the institution’s
research on urban development in the Global South. The project collaborates
with the Mozambican NGO Estamos, the Faculty of Architecture and Urban
Planning at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane (FAPF) and the Danish branch of
Architects without Borders (AUG).
Casas Melhoradas was exhibited and published on numerous notable
platforms, including Louisisana Museum of Modern Art, the Danish architectural magazine
Arkitekten, Virserum Museum of Art and the Danish pavilion at the 2016 Venice Biennale
of Architecture.
The latest prototype was built in 2016 and consists of a vertical addition to an old house in
proximity to the centre of Maputo, in a slum area in the Polana Caniço neighbourhood. The
project demonstrates how existing buildings can be transformed to meet the need to build
more densely. An additional concrete structure was added to the old house supporting
the new first floor timber construction. The housing unit was constructed with a simple
building system, consisting of lightweight wooden elements, prefabricated in a local timber
workshop, transported by hand and assembled for a complete housing unit in relatively
short time. The house reinterprets the traditional “Casa de Madeira e Zinco” (local housing
type consisting of a timber and corrugated iron sheets), whereas the old house is the
common “Casa de Blocos” (local housing type consisting of concrete blocks).