Cine-Estúdio Namibe represents a modernist building, designed by the Portuguese architect José Botelho Pereira and built in Namibe, Angola, in 1973. With other cultural facilities built in the 1960s and 1970s, Cine-Estúdio Namibe embodies the city’s changing character inserted into the urban expansion zone planned during the latter years of Portuguese colonial rule. The building was never fully completed, and the site was abandoned in 1975 following the outbreak of the Angolan civil war (1975-2002).

This community-driven project aims to increase recognition of modern architecture in Angola. This emblematic public building (known locally as “the spaceship”) represents a key site for fostering shared narratives on the cultural significance of this site, which might subsequently be extended and replicated at other endangered sites and buildings.

With the help of the World Monuments Fund, through their program World Monuments Watch 2025, this project contributes to framing pilot interventions and prototypes, engaging local communities (students, associations, citizens, contractors, NGOs) in training, capacitation and empowerment for conservation as well as maintenance and appropriate use. Moreover, this project will deepen knowledge on the decay and repair of concrete in maritime environments while providing training in risk assessment and climate change adaptation, incorporating concerns over energy efficiency (by using passive systems and renewable energy), water saving, waste reduction, preventing and responding to emergency events.

Also, the development of a Conservation Management Plan will be a permanent reference for the long-term conservation of this site. Dissemination actions (documentary film, exhibition, books and website) will strongly engage local partners (seminars, workshops, oral history) Contributing to the safeguarding of the Cine-Estúdio Namibe and its transmission for future generations.

Team

Teresa Cunha Ferreira (Nominator)
Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto

Luis Urbano
Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto

Pedro Murilo Freitas
Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto

Rui Fernandes Póvoas
Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto

Ana Tostões
Faculdade de Arquitectura da Universidade do Porto
Instituto Superior Técnico

Paulo B. Lourenço
Universidade do Minho

Maria Manuel Oliveira
Universidade do Minho

Daniel Quintã
Iperforma Angola

Margarida Quintã
Iperforma Angola

Afonso Quintã
Iperforma Angola

Filomena do Espírito Santo Carvalho
Universidade Agostinho Neto, DOCOMOMO Angola

Suzana Matos
Universidade Lusíada de Angola, Ordem dos Arquitectos de Angola