Description

The Polana High School (previously known as the Liceu D. Ana da Costa Portugal) is a building designed in 1970 by João José Tinoco (1924–1983) and José Forjaz (1936–2024) for the Polana district in Maputo. Based on the typological models for educational buildings developed by Fernando Mesquita between the 1950s and 1970s, the programme is organised across several pavilions connected perpendicularly to a long covered circulation gallery oriented along a north–south axis.

The two northern pavilions are intended for administrative and educational support services, located near the entrance to the campus. The four central pavilions serve as classroom blocks. At the southern end of the gallery, the main gallery takes a 45-degree turn, configuring the school in an L-shaped layout. Along this secondary arm, the remaining educational sector services are grouped into four separate buildings: canteen; auditorium; laboratories, medical post and library; and gymnasium.

Each pair of the three-storey classroom pavilions is parted in the middle by the main access gallery. Since it is possible to traverse on the upper level as well, the archetype of school gallery developed by Fernando Mesquita has been transformed in this school: providing chiefly a shaded circulation route at ground level, this backbone of Polana High School can also be used as a sunny path (on the upper level), creating a dual-faced route that allows greater flexibility in mobility and quick access to various places. Vertical circulation is concentrated near the beginning of each of these pavilions and, along with the gallery, plays a significant role in the overall building complex, standing out visually and given aesthetic prominence.

The site is not entirely flat, allowing for a clever adaptation to the surroundings: the sloping spaces between pavilions form open-air amphitheatres in the courtyards. These various leisure and gathering spaces are enhanced through the integration of fixed furniture. From the benches that consistently line all the shaded pathways between the buildings to the detail of the handrail, which often doubles as a backrest, these two elements assign to these spaces of transition the simultaneous function of both circulation and repose.

Regarding the climatic concept of the building, Polana High School follows the lexicon developed by Fernando Mesquita: the school consists of longitudinal volumes with their long façades maintaining an east–west orientation. Classrooms are distributed in compartments between opposite façades, allowing for cross-ventilation and natural lighting; solar protection is provided by the covered circulation galleries giving access to the classrooms along the entire north façade and by vertical brise-soleils near the larger glass windows on the south façades. The brise-soleils are prefabricated concrete elements attached to the structure by metal components fixed to the column reinforcement. Energy performance is further enhanced by the Beta windows and the considered presence of native vegetation and evergreen trees.

However, there are other particularities in architectural articulation that distinguish this school‘s response to the climate. The most significant one is the design of the roofs (made of corrugated asbestos-cement sheets), comprising a wide variety of solutions. The classroom pavilions are covered by a single slope, with the largest opening in the direction of the cool winds; this type of roofing efficiently increases the amount and speed of air that passes through, thanks to the difference in the heights of the ventilated space. It also has the advantage of directing rainwater runoff to the side opposite to the walkways. In the small pavilions housing the canteen and the gymnasium, the roofs slope towards a central gutter that drains the rainwater. Also known as a butterfly wing roof, this solution employs a modern vocabulary that was widely used in Brazilian architecture. In the administrative pavilion, the roof crosses the two traditional slopes at different levels, an advantageous solution allowing for the admission of light into the two wings of compartments inside. In terms of construction, the project makes use of prefabricated and modular concrete components, with concrete being the primary finishing material, giving it a distinct Brutalist aesthetic.

As André Ferreira explained , this project fits into the late phase of Tinoco’s career, when he was interested in articulating the “tropical” references of the Modern Movement with later grammars, particularly those influenced by Brutalism and Organicism. Forjaz’s involvement was also crucial, as a representative of a younger generation that was more attuned to the importance of local conditions than the reproduction of universal formulas (Ferreira, 2008, p. 182).

Polana High School is currently in operation, although there are evident signs of deterioration, in particular corrosion of metal elements and concrete fractures. In 2012, some interventions were carried out with the aim of keeping the building in use, but they were done without an overall long-term strategy.

References

Ferreira, A. (2008)., Obras Públicas em Moçambique. Inventário da Produção Arquitectónica Executada entre 1933 e 1961, Lisbon: Edições Universitárias Lusófonas.

Forjaz, J. (1999). Entre o Adobe e o Aço Inox: Ideias e Projectos. Lisbon: Caminho.

Forjaz, J. (2018). Pensar Arquitectura. Casal de Cambra: Caleidoscópio.

Fry, M. and Drew, J. (1964). Tropical Architecture in Dry and Humid Zones. London: William Clowes and Sons.

Magalhães, A. (2009). Moderno Tropical Arquitectura em Angola e Moçambique 1948–1975. Lisbon: Edições Tinta da China.

Morais, J. (2001). Maputo. Património da Estrutura e da Forma Urbana. Topologia do lugar. Lisbon: Livros Horizonte.

Morais, J. S., Lage, L. and Malheiro, J. (2012). Património Arquitectónico. Maputo. Casal de Cambra: Caleidoscópio.

Olgyay, V. (1963). Design with Climate: Bioclimatic Approach to Architectural Regionalism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Riso, V. (2013). “Polana High School. A Modern Building Recovering Case Study in Mozambique“. Docomomo Journal, 48, pp. 40–45. https://doi.org/10.52200/48.A.TAK7I27H

Riso, V. (2013), “The Polana High School. A Recovery Study-Case of a Modern Building in Mozambique“. In: A. Tostões (ed.), Modern Architecture in Africa: Angola and Mozambique. Lisbon: ICIST/Técnico-University of Lisbon, pp. 390–397.

Tostões, A. (2016). “Polana High School (former Dona Ana Portugal Lyceum)”: Heritage of Portuguese Influence. HPIP. https://hpip.org/en/heritage/details/2262

Tostões, A. (2021). “Polana Secondary School”. In: P. Meuser and A. Dalbai (eds.), Architectural Guide. Sub-Saharan Africa (Vol. 7: Southern Africa: Between the Atlantic and Indian Oceans). Berlin: DOM Publishers, p. 71.

Tostões, A. (2022). “Clima y Cultura. Arquitectura Moderna en África”. Proyecto, Progreso, Arquitectura, 26, pp. 16–31.

Veloso, A. M., Fernandes, J. M. and Janeiro, M. L. (2008). João José Tinoco: Arquitecturas em África. Lisbon: Livros Horizonte.

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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.