Maputo Modern

Maputo Modern: The Changing Identities of an African City

A discussion between Liz McEnaney and Alan Brake.

Maputo Modern: The Evolving Identities of an African City is the story of a place, the people who shaped it, and the forces of history that built a city and then froze it in time. With Art Deco theaters, mid-century modern hotels, climate-sensitive schools, modernist housing blocks, and Rationalist civic buildings, Maputo, Mozambique is one of the most important collections of African modern architecture and is almost completely unknown outside the Portuguese-speaking world.

Liz McEnaney and Alan G. Brake will look at the city’s establishment, early planning, colonial development, independence followed by civil war, and eventual stabilization. Maputo’s identity has changed through these many periods and historical ruptures, creating a dynamic and evolving urban condition.

McEnaney is Adjunct Assistant Professor at Columbia GSAPP and Executive Director of Sir John Soane’s Museum Foundation. Brake is a writer, critic, curator, and a columnist for Dezeen.

Initial research for Maputo Modern was made possible by a grant from the Graham Foundation.

Free and open to the public.
Organized as part of the Urban Design Lecture Series.