School in Cabo Verde

School in Cabo Verde Portuguese Official Representation at the International 8th Biennial of Architecture in São Paulo
Achada Fazenda, Santiago, CV . 2009

The idea of the school is for the basalt walls to configure the first unit of space on the territory, the bigger spaces such as the playground and the corridors between walls where the rooms and patios will be situated. The smallest unit model witch repeats is a metal construction laid on the basalt walls. The spaces between rooms are covered with coloured sackcloth to protect us from the heat.

The color is inside the model. When you’re inside the classroom it should be more comfortable - the surfaces are now smooth, the ceilings coloured.
The landscape is monochromatic, but the people use color in amazing ways. When you see someone walk by it’s a magic moment. I have a really beautiful photo of a child dressed in pink, which i put in the notebook. Colour says “people live here”. There are many luminous greens and strong blues - two colours that refer to the colour territory lacks.
The facades are all painted in Achada Fazenda’s main streets. The people never paint the entire house, only the facades or a varanda. In Venice, the facades giving on to Grand Canal are in stonework but the sides are plastered. In Cape Verde it’s pretty mutch the same thing, it defines an aspect of the elevation..


Inês Lobo with João Rosário, Gilberto Reis, João Vaz, Júlia Varela, Rafael Marques, Job Morais e Sónia Ribeiro
Sustainability and Energy Efficiency: Guilherme Carrilho da Graça
Landscape Architecture: João Gomes da Silva

Photography: Luisa Ferreira

Acknowledgments: Cape Verde Ministry of Education, Portuguese Embassy in Cape Verde, Municipality of Santa Cruz