Tag: Archlabour

  • Neighborhoods, Angola

    Neighborhoods, Angola

    NEIGHBORHOODS – 03 – ALTO LIRO OPERATION, ANGOLA

    The “Operação Alto Liro” was a collective housing program launched by the Urbanization Services of the Lobito City Council, Angola, in 1971. It was located on the surrounding plateaus, 120 meters above sea level, north of the Lobito-Luanda Road. It occupied 68 hectares, divided into 155-square-meter plots, initially calculated for 1,543 dwellings and 7,500 families. The aim was to contain the growth of “sanzalas,” formed by newly arrived urban populations. Until 1973, about four units were built per day. The inhabitants, called “concessionaires”, were responsible for building the houses through a system of assisted self-construction, with financial aid. The municipality was responsible for road layout, facilities, and sanitation.

    How to cite

    ArchLabour: Architecture Colonialism and Labour (P.I. Ana Vaz Milheiro, ERC-funded 10.3030/101096606, 2024-2028). Neighborhoods – 03 – Alto Liro Operation, Angola. Accessed on 14th December 2025. Available at: https://archlabour.iscte-iul.pt/neighborhoods-angola/

    Last update: July 21, 2025

    01

    Plan & Construction

    Under the Lobito Housing and Urban Redevelopment Program, the fifth phase began in 1973 and was expected to last two years, corresponding to “Operação Alto Liro”. The two previous ones involved implementation and tracing the financing model (1971-1973), preceded by experiments in self-construction and property regime (1959-1970). The Urbanization Services plan included commercial and educational infrastructure, sanitary facilities and laundries, leisure areas. Approved concessionaires obtained a plot and access to bank loans for materials and services. Provided with an optional standard residential design, they were required to comply with alignment requirements. The residential core entailed of only one room (living room/bedroom), a kitchen, and a bathroom, to be expanded to three new side rooms.

    02

    Labour

    The construction of the units was the responsibility of each concessionaire, who received technical assistance. They could buy an empty plot or one that already had foundations and walls built. The office, located on site, centralized the distribution of plots by the “neighborhood manager” and the delivery of materials stored in the warehouse. The lack of training among families compromised their autonomy as builders, making it necessary to hire professionals such as bricklayers and carpenters. Small contractors emerged, paid through private loans, contributing to the recognition of specialized tasks. The operation was monitored by the head of the Inspection and Works Brigade assigned to the site.

    03

    Skills & Technologies

    Prior to the operation, land and water were provided free of charge to manufacture adobe bricks and stones for the foundations. The use of increasingly “Western” technology required materials produced by local industries, which were purchased by the authorities for resale to contractors. After 1973, 151,000 bricks or blocks, 400 kg of explosives, 640 cubic meters of stone, and 1,300 cubic meters of sand were supplied monthly. Interruptions in the supply of materials made it necessary to expand support by finding new quarries. A construction site was set up in Alto Liro to manufacture cement blocks. Stone and sand were used for the foundations; brick and cement for the walls; zinc or aluminum sheets, fiber cement, tiles, and beams for the roof; doors and windows had prefabricated wooden frames.

    Fieldwork

    Photographs and Drawings

    Related Outputs

    On What Material Do You Want It to be Made…? Negotiations and Colonial Building Sites in African Territories under Late Portuguese Rule

  • Strategic Villages, Guinea-Bissau

    Strategic Villages, Guinea-Bissau

    STRATEGIC VILLAGES, GUINEA-BISSAU

    Between 1968 and 1974, during the last years of the colonial/liberation war, under the general governor António de Spínola, between 60 to 140 “new” villages were built in Guinea-Bissau with the aim of regrouping rural population living in strategic war zones (e.g., borders, proximity to rivers, populated areas etc.). These villages, known with the term of reordenamentos populacionais (“populational resettlements”), provided rural population with basic housing conditions, collective facilities and water supply. In few years, by “winning hearts and minds” of the Guinean population, the Portuguese army achieved to coordinate the construction of approximately 8313 houses, 196 schools, 51 sanitary posts, but also new roads, bridges and airstrips built mostly by African labour.

    How to cite

    ArchLabour: Architecture Colonialism and Labour (P.I. Ana Vaz Milheiro, ERC-funded 10.3030/101096606, 2024-2028). Strategic Villages, Guinea-Bissau. Accessed on 14th December 2025. Available at: https://archlabour.iscte-iul.pt/strategic-villages-guinea-bissau/

    Last update: July 21, 2025

    01

    Plan & Construction

    The villages were laid out following a grid plan, which varied in the number of houses and overall layout depending on the characteristics of each site (e.g. number of people to be resettled, geographic conditions, etc.). It is not consensual who designed the new village plan. Sometimes its layout was sketched by the army Engineer-in-chief on the ground (e.g., Nhabijões village), in other cases it was drawn by draftsmen at the Engineering Battalion headquarter in Bissau or by PWD technicians. The types of houses built consisted of four-roomed houses made of adobe bricks, with either thatched or corrugated roofs. Community facilities, including a primary school, warehouse, sanitary post, fountains and wells, could be built incrementally, depending on available resources.

    02

    Labour

    The planning and construction of the resettled villages were undertaken by both military and civil actors. According to Spínola’s guidelines, the division of labour was very clear. The local Public Works Department, through the Urbanization Working Group of Guinea-Bissau, was responsible for designing the village urbanization plans to be implemented by the army on the ground, as well as the house. On the contrary, the army ensured the security of the construction sites and the implementation of the villages by deploying skilled laborers to supervise construction and labour works. The army was also responsible to provide building materials and equipment on site, including heavy machinery.

    03

    Skills & Technologies

    The construction of a new village required both intellectual and manual labour. Intellectual labour encompassed all the stages prior to construction and was carried out by the army and the PWD. Site verification and survey (both territorial and population-based) was usually undertaken by military units of “Recognition and Information.” The design of a new village was the responsibility of the PWD, although it sometimes happened that plans were sketched directly on the ground by military engineers themselves. Manual labour was primarily carried out by male members of the displaced population and included tasks such as land clearing, adobe brick and palm pole production, construction of houses and buildings, and wells excavation. Women were also present at building sites, usually tasked with carrying water and providing food for both military and civilian workers.

    Fieldwork

    Photographs and Drawings

    Related Outputs

    Material, labour, construction sites. The military reordering of rural areas in Guinea-Bissau (1968-1974)

    On What Material Do You Want It to be Made…? Negotiations and Colonial Building Sites in African Territories under Late Portuguese Rule

    The bungalow: counter-histories of a global colonial home

    Wartime residential rural landscapes the Guinea-Bissau case during the colonial/liberation war with the Portuguese (1963–1974)

    “Uma Guiné Melhor”: the psychological action and the spatialization of population control in rural areas. The strategic villages in Guinea-Bissau between 1968 -1973

  • Waterford School, Eswatini

    Waterford School, Eswatini

    WATERFORD SCHOOL, ESWATINI

    Waterford School is situated on a hill four miles from Mbabane, the principal town of Swaziland (British Protectorate), now the kingdom of Eswatini. In defiance of apartheid, it was founded by Michael Stern as a multi-racial secondary school for boys, regardless of their ethnicity, religion or income. It opened on February 2, 1963, inspired by British institutions and sponsored by private patrons. The 200-acre site is located 4,500 feet above sea level and 500 feet above Mbabane. “Rondavels”, a pre-existing group of buildings, served as the first classrooms and other accommodation. The new complex occupied the hills, leaving the flat area free for sports facilities. Access was via a difficult road, which gave the site an atmosphere of isolation. 

    How to cite

    ArchLabour: Architecture Colonialism and Labour (P.I. Ana Vaz Milheiro, ERC-funded 10.3030/101096606, 2024-2028). Waterford school, Eswatini. Accessed on 14th December 2025. Available at: https://archlabour.iscte-iul.pt/waterford-school-eswatini/

    Last update: July 1, 2025

    01

    Plan & Construction

    Pancho Guedes was the architect of the first phase, on a pro bono basis (1961-1972). A drawing by former student Pedro Guedes dated the different phases of the first nucleus, structured from a level corridor/open-air gallery, with perpendicular buildings following the slope: one-storey dormitories, ending with two staff/teachers’ houses (1963-1964); three blocks for collective activities, including meals (1964-1966); two-storey dormitories (1967-1970), culminating in a residence (1970). The library, two classroom blocks and laboratories were built nearby. A girls’ dormitory was built away from this first core but near the “Rondavels” (1969-1972). As the complex expanded, the internal functions changed, ensuring that the school could be used while the building work continued. 

    02

    Labour

    James Richardson, an experienced British carpenter, who settled with his family at the beginning of the school’s construction, was one of the pillars of the enterprise. He was part of the team that coordinated a workforce of local labour, augmented by mostly of Waterford residents – pupils, staff and teachers. They were joined by Mozambican workers brought in by the architect Pancho Guedes and the Portuguese builder Machado, who replaced the first contractor of South African origin. Students and teachers performed unskilled tasks, supervised by more qualified laborers. The different languages that coexisted on the building site reflected the heterogeneity of the agents involved. 

    03

    Skills & Technologies

    The initial construction work consisted of clearing the land of granite boulders. The sequence of tasks included making sun-cured sand and cement bricks and molding them on site; laying foundations and compacting the earth; formwork and concreting; assembling cages of reinforcement from straight steel rods; pouring concrete roof slabs; and laying roof tiles. The construction systems mixed the Portuguese tradition practiced in Mozambique with the South African one, the latter using industrially produced components such as standardized steel windows. Although the construction was solid, the finishes were precarious, as a result of unskilled labor (including students) in tasks such as painting. At least one mural was frescoed in one of the dormitory courtyards. 

    Fieldwork

    In progress

    Photographs and Drawings

    Related Outputs

    Waterford Kamhlaba: nove frames de um estaleiro habitado (notas de campo)

  • Benguela Railway, Angola

    Benguela Railway, Angola

    BENGUELA RAILWAY, ANGOLA

    The Benguela Railway, built between 1903 and 1931, was one of the most important mobility infrastructures developed during European colonialism in Africa, bringing together Portuguese, British and Belgian interests. The railway is 1,866 km long, with almost 60 stations, and connects Lobito, on the Angolan coast, with Luau, a small town near the eastern border – and then extends to the Katanga mining region in the Belgian Congo.

    How to cite

    ArchLabour: Architecture Colonialism and Labour (P.I. Ana Vaz Milheiro, ERC-funded 10.3030/101096606, 2024-2028). Benguela railway, Angola. Accessed on 14th December 2025. Available at: https://archlabour.iscte-iul.pt/benguela-railway-angola/

    Last update: July 1, 2025

    01

    Plan & Construction

    Construction of the Benguela Railway began on 1 March 1903 and involved two British contractors with extensive experience of building railways in Africa. George Pauling & Co. started the earthworks and imported some rails from England. Th following year, Norton Griffiths & Co. continued the process, completing the first section of 197 kilometres to Cubal in 1908. Pauling was later reappointed and completed the railway to Luau in 1929 (with a long hiatus between 1913 and 1920 due to the economi effects of the First World War). Other smaller contractors, such as the Italian Vigano, also worked on some sections.

    02

    Labour

    For the first decade, the work was carried out by 7,000 men working day and night in continuous shifts. Most came from abroad, including Ghana, Liberia (especially “kroo boys”), French West Africa (Senegal), Cape Verde, the Belgian Congo and South Africa. About 2,000 Indians (known as “coolies”) were recruited in Natal and India, some with their families. From 1912 there was a shift towards using local labour in Angola. By this time, construction work was being carried out by smaller teams. Some 2,200 Africans were involved in clearing land, earthworks, steelwork, bridge and telegraph construction and bricklaying. Their wages were “between 100 and 140 réis” – almost half the amount quoted by the Portuguese colonial government in 1900, perhaps because of the “voluntary” position of these men.

    03

    Skills & Technologies

    Each section of the line faced different topographical conditions and logistical problems, requiring different techniques, materials and numbers of workers. The first section, for example, involved the construction of an advanced “rack” system. Unlike the “European” personnel, the African workers had no formal qualifications and were not expected to have experience in railway construction. Their assessment by the railway managers was based on ethnic prejudice as well as physical and social ability. Some groups, such as the Kroo, were valued for their physical strength, while others, such as the Quilengues men, were valued for their commitment to the work.

    Fieldwork

    In progress

    Photographs and Drawings

    Related Outputs

    Building the Benguela Railway: laborers and construction skills

    The recruitment process of coolies for construction work on the Benguela railway – legal framework and labour force

    Unravelling colonial infrastructure legal framework – the Benguela railway

    Imperial companies and railways between Angola and Belgian Congo, 1910-1930

  • Mabubas Dam, Angola

    Mabubas Dam, Angola

    MABUBAS DAM, ANGOLA

    The Mabubas Dam (1948-1954) – formerly known as Capitão Teófilo Duarte Dam, after the name of the Portuguese Minister of Colonies at the time –, was the first large hydroelectric work promoted by the Portuguese state in Africa. Its construction started in February 1948 at an isolated place near Luanda, Angola.

    How to cite

    ArchLabour: Architecture Colonialism and Labour (P.I. Ana Vaz Milheiro, ERC-funded 10.3030/101096606, 2024-2028). Mabubas Dam, Angola. Accessed on 14th December 2025. Available at: https://archlabour.iscte-iul.pt/mabubas-dam-angola/

    Last update: July 21, 2025

    01

    Plan & Construction

    The project included a gravity dam with a triangular profile and a curved plan: 40 meters high, 282 meters long, and 63,000 m3 of concrete. Portuguese, French and British construction companies were involved in the production, such as Luso-Dana, Neyrpic Portuguese, Obras Metálicas Electro-Soldadas (OMES), Sociedade de Electricidade e Fomento, Construções Especiais, Cimentation Company, The S. Morgan Smith Company and Westinghouse Electric Company. After some failed attempts, the Portuguese state hired the British firm Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners, which re-evaluated the initial plans in 1944, and continued with French and Danish experts.

    02

    Labour

    At its peak, the construction gathered 1,053 workers, described in inspection reports as Indigenous and Europeans. “European” and “assimilated” labourers made up the most qualified group; yet accounting for no more than 15% of the workforce. Unskilled positions were held by the remainder of the workers, including 17% “volunteers”. The movement of people at the yard increased over time, with hundreds of men arriving and leaving every month. Inside Angola, the contingents came from Camacupa, Bié, Alto Quanza, Huambo, Dande, Zombo, Pombo, Ambrizete, Dembos, Cambo, Duque de Bragança and Malange, among others.

    03

    Skills & Technologies

    Over 30 fields of expertise took part in the construction, from engineers, doctors, nurses, accountants, executive managers, assistants and cooks to construction managers, foremen, toolmakers, bailiffs, warehouse keepers, electricians, motorists, bricklayers, machinists, plumbers, electricians, painters, carpenters, miners, ditchdiggers, quarrymen and servants. Both European and African laborers had to deal with many materials and techniques that combined traditional methods with cutting-edge technology. The simultaneity of systems, materials, and skills was a significant feature of the building site and a decisive factor in the success of the work.

    Fieldwork

    In progress

    Photographs and Drawings

    Related Outputs

    Beyond family. How to house highly skilled European male workers in colonial Angola in the aftermath of the Second World War

    Building from non-simultaneities: Mabubas Dam, Angola