Location: Luanda, Angola.

Architect: Master Plan Angola, Lda.

Kiss is a sustainable building project located in the Quifica neighborhood of Luanda, Angola. The project is inspired by the island of Luanda, which was once the money reserve for the king of the Kingdom of Congo. The building project celebrates the contrasts and lifestyle of the island while pursuing a new identity. The project is named Kiss, short for Kissanga, which means “island” in the Angolan native language, Kimbundu. The unconventional plot of land guided the design of the building project, creating a grid that allowed the play of volumes and orientation throughout the building. The footprint reduced due to local urban laws, which enabled a free wind circulation around the building, resulting in a dense mass. To solve this, the mass was divided in two, creating East Kiss and West Kiss, connected by a vertical body with storytelling facades about the Angolan way of living and its culture, with openings shaped in sona symbols, a language from the Lunda-Tchokwe people in the North of Angola. The program was vertically distributed, where on the ground level we find five open-space offices with double ceiling, each with a mezzanine for commercial or services. The first and second levels have six two-bedroom apartments on the West Kiss and four one-bedroom apartments on the East Kiss, both with open living rooms and isle kitchen. There is a change in the buildings reading here as we played with the direction of the apartments creating a horizontal zigzag effect that represents the fast and intense lifestyle of the Island of Luanda. The building project also includes an open-air terrace with a 360֯ infinity pool, trees, a bar and a gymnasium in the middle, creating Kissanga, the Island. The bar and gymnasium have green roofs and solar panels for an alternate energy supply that covers the whole building. There are also 10 parking spaces on the sublevel, 1 per family. The project is located in an area with a lack of urban infrastructure, making it an unsafe and uncomfortable environment for those who visit. The building project aims to transform the area by incorporating sustainable design and celebrating the culture and lifestyle of the island of Luanda.

Photo credit: Yanick VictorSebastião Lopes.