Edifício Dragão

Edifício Dragão to the side, from Av. Eduardo Mondlane from, seen

View of the north staircase of the building

Dragon in the entrance / stairwell area of the building

The Edifício Dragão (also Prédio Dragão or Casa do Dragão ; in English "Dragon Building") is a residential building in the Mozambican capital Maputo . Pancho Guedes provided the design for the 1951–53 building, a symbol of the modernist and expressionist “Stiloguedes” that he proclaimed. It is located at the intersection of Avenida Eduardo Mondlane and Avenida Armando Tivane .

history

The Edifício Dragão was the first building that Pancho Guedes designed after his return from Portugal in what was then the Portuguese colony of Mozambique. The building has three floors and two staircases lead to a total of twelve three-room apartments. Two more staircases to the balconies are intended for staff. Originally, writes António Albuquerque, it was supposed to be higher. Parking spaces for vehicles were provided on the ground floor, at street level. On the outside wall there is a large mosaic picture of the name-giving dragon ( Dragão ). The facade is characterized by the balconies and the precast concrete parts, which are intended to ventilate and protect from the sun at the same time.

Since the construction of the building it has changed significantly due to social, historical and legal conditions, whereby the style of Guedes is still recognizable. In his thesis, Francisco Ferreira describes in detail all the structural changes that have been made since 1951. In addition to the insufficient maintenance of the building, the bars on the balconies (effects of the colonial war) and the increasing commercial uses (moving in of shops in and behind the building) are noticeable. . Ferreira attributes this to the nationalization of all buildings in the course of Mozambique's independence in 1976, as there would have been a lack of financial means to maintain them as a result.

It is registered with the number 31690 in the Portuguese monument database Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico , which also includes works by former Portuguese colonies.

Web links

lusotropicalizando.blogspot.pt , lusotropicalizando.blogspot.pt details of the building

Individual evidence

↑ Antonio Manuel da Silva e Sousa de Albuquerque: Arquitectura Moderna em Mozambique . Inquérito à Produção Arquitectónica em Moçambique nos Últimos Vinte e Cinco Anos do Império Colonial Português. 1949-1974. Ed .: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra. Coimbra 1998, p. 101 (final thesis).
^ Francisco Manuel Diniz Vieira Seabra Ferreira: Reabilitação de edifícios do Movimento Moderno em Maputo. Planos de salvaguarda para quatros casos de estudo. Ed .: Instituto Superior Técnico da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. Lisbon November 2013, p. 50 ff . (Portuguese, fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt [PDF] Master's thesis).
^ Tiago Lourenço: Edifício Dragão. In: Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico (SIPA). 2011, accessed June 25, 2014 (Portuguese).

-25.973968 32.592882Coordinates: 25 ° 58 ′ 26.3 ″ S , 32 ° 35 ′ 34.4 ″ E

[1] Antonio Manuel da Silva e Sousa de Albuquerque: Arquitectura Moderna em Mozambique . Inquérito à Produção Arquitectónica em Moçambique nos Últimos Vinte e Cinco Anos do Império Colonial Português. 1949-1974. Ed .: Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra. Coimbra 1998, p. 101 (final thesis).

[2] Francisco Manuel Diniz Vieira Seabra Ferreira: Reabilitação de edifícios do Movimento Moderno em Maputo. Planos de salvaguarda para quatros casos de estudo. Ed .: Instituto Superior Técnico da Universidade Técnica de Lisboa. Lisbon November 2013, p. 50 ff . (Portuguese, fenix.tecnico.ulisboa.pt [PDF] Master's thesis).

[SIPA-3] Tiago Lourenço: Edifício Dragão. In: Sistema de Informação para o Património Arquitectónico (SIPA). 2011, accessed June 25, 2014 (Portuguese).