MSA Baixa de Maputo

MSA stands for ‘Master Studio Afrika’ and is a joint program on architectural master (MSc/MProf) education and research on the Africa city between the Faculty of Architecture of the Eduardo Mondlane University of Maputo (FAPF-UEM), the Faculty of Architecture of the Delft University of Technology (TUD) and the Department of Architecture of the University of Pretoria (UP). The direction and inter-party coordination of the project is in the hands of African Architecture matters.

The first MSA project cycle in 2011 as well as the project preparation in 2010, has been made possibly through the financial assistance of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Maputo. The participating 36 students (27 UEM, 6 UP and 3 TUD) have presented their final master thesis on the Baixa de Maputo. Three workshops took place: a starting up field workshop in Maputo (21.02-05.03.2011), a mid-term review workshop in Pretoria (27-31.2011) and a concluding and evaluation workshop in Delft and Utrecht (24-26.02.2012). The field workshop consisted of exploration of the site, lectures by UEM lecturers and Municipality officers on the Baixa and first direction into research by design on the basis of the base material prepared in 2010. At the Pretoria mid-term review, the research results were presented together with collective urban frameworks and first steps into individual final design projects. Lectures on the Architectural Reading of Maputo, Urban Historic Landscapes, joint studio experiences in Africa and South America and informality in the city centre were delivered by lecturers of UP, TUD and the University of Witwatersrand. The whole group made an excursion to Soweto.