Parliament (former Cine-theatre Restauração)

Luanda [São Paulo de Luanda], Luanda, Angola

Equipment and Infrastructures

The building of the former Cine-Theatre is a solid urban structure, of somewhat heavy design, but in a modernist style with a slender abstract tower topping a long and dense horizontal building. It was designed by brothers and architects João Garcia de Castilho (1915-2007) and Luís Garcia de Castilho (with the engineer António Castilho). It was conceived and built between 1946 and 1952 (inauguration date). It is located in upper Luanda on the former Hospital Avenue. With an architectural language based on the work of Frank Lloyd Wright and Willem Dudok, it is externally composed of a sequence of longitudinal volumes with horizontal window lines, the volumes being parallel to the avenue and surmounted by an elegant tower. In addition to the theatre, included in a set back perpendicular block, initially its functional plan encompassed a restaurant/bar/dance-hall over two-storeys with a roofed terrace. It underwent numerous changes before and after independence and is presently the seat of the Parliament of Angola.

• Elisiário Miranda
• José Manuel Fernandes