Description
The firm Monteiro & Giro (M & G), based in Oporto, had diverse interests in Mozambique, including raw material extraction, livestock farming, and cotton and tea cultivation. In the 1950s, they decided to relocate their headquarters to Quelimane due to its strategic location as a commercial hub in the Zambézia province and the desire to expand their business into the hotel and real estate sectors. This move prompted them to commission a major architectural project from the studio of Arménio Losa (1908–1988) and Cassiano Barbosa (1911–1998), also based in Oporto. The commission also explicitly specified the construction of a “modern building”. This ambitious project, on an unprecedented scale for all of northern Mozambique, involved significant local workforce training and had a lasting impact on the city‘s urban development over the decades. It profoundly marked the small city of Quelimane, endowing it with a cosmopolitan and modern character.
The M & G ensemble is composed of two distinct poles: the urban complex of Chuabo (1956), located in the centre of Quelimane, and the Monteiro & Giro Industrial Complex, located on the outskirts of the same city. Chuabo occupies an entire city block and is arranged in a square shape around a large courtyard. It consists of distinct volumes that serve various purposes, including a nine-storey hotel on the main urban frontage, three blocks of five to eight storeys for commerce, offices and housing (A, B, C), and a two-storey volume within the block that contains a service station, various sales stands, namely the city’s first supermarket, offices and warehouses. The programme is organised in layers: the ground floor of blocks A-B-C is dedicated to commerce; the level above is multi-functional (offices, consulting rooms, studios), and the upper floors are designated for residential use, organised into duplex (A, B) or individual (C) apartments. The hotel features a double-height atrium, with a mezzanine connected to the social areas. This volume stands out on the exterior of the building, acting as a kind of pedestal upon which the hotel rooms’ volume rises. The top floor, slightly set back, houses the dining room and the nightclub, connected by a large terrace that opens up to the river and the surrounding landscape.
The distribution galleries, resembling “streets in the sky” protected by sunshades, are positioned above the central courtyard and envelope the buildings, reinstating the concept of an interior communal courtyard, a significant planning element within the African tradition. The variety of typologies, functions and layers reflects the modern concept of blending different uses.
Through a blending of various scales, the architects created a comprehensive global design, bringing together urban planning decisions – for instance, embracing the monumentality of the block – with the conception of furniture, cutlery and signage. There are also European and native artworks that can be appreciated in the entrance atrium and the wall of the Chuabo Hotel’s nightclub is adorned by an extraordinary fresco created by five local artists.
The industrial complex is today partially abandoned and in a state of decay. The housing and commercial spaces of Chuabo, though fully occupied, are also in advanced degradation. The hotel, despite some deterioration, still maintains admirable conditions in terms of the original integrity of its spaces and furniture.
The M&G ensemble represented a masterpiece of its era, marked by the attention given by modern architects to new contexts, connecting and exchanging world visions, drawing inspiration from European to Brazilian, Colombian or Mexican architecture, while focussing on the specific circumstances of colonial Africa.
References
Fry, M. and Drew, J. (1964). Tropical Architecture in Dry and Humid Zones. London: William Clowes and Sons.
Kultermann, U. (1969). New Directions in Africa Architecture. New York: George Braziller.
Lagae, J. and Avermaete, T. (2010). L’Afrique, c´est Chic. Architecture and Planning in Africa 1950–1970. Rotterdam: NAi Publishers.
Losa, A. and Barbosa, C. (1958). Anteprojecto de um Conjunto de Edifícios a Construir em Quelimane. Memória Descritiva. Porto: FAUP/CDUA.
Losa, A. (2008) [1948]. “A arquitectura e as novas fábricas“. In: A. Tostões (ed.), 1º Congresso Nacional de Arquitectura, Teses. Lisbon: OA, pp. 127–128.
Nnamdi, E. (1997). African Architecture, Evolution and Transformation. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Olgyay, V. (1963). Design with Climate: Bioclimatic Approach to Architectural Regionalism. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Tostões, A. and Oliveira, M. M. (2010). “Transcontinental Modernism. M & G as an Unité d’habitation and a Factory Complex in Mozambique“. Docomomo Journal (43), pp. 70–73. https://doi.org/10.52200/43.A.2BIF8AUU
Tostões, A. and Oliveira, M. M. (2013). “The Monteiro & Giro Ensemble. The City and the Factory“. In: A. Tostões (ed.), Modern Architecture in Africa: Angola and Mozambique. Lisbon: ICIST/Técnico-University of Lisbon, pp. 254–273.
The urban complex of Chuabo occupies an entire city block, combining a hotel, blocks for commerce, offices, and housing.
Spiral staircase connecting the atrium of the hotel Chuabo with the banquet hall.
Originally published in: Uta Pottgiesser, Ana Tostões, Modernism in Africa. The Architecture of Angola, Ghana, Mozambique, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Birkhäuser, 2024.