ZONA#1

ZONA shaped several projects in downtown Maputo. I worked with Budula, Fernando, Hermengildo, Ildo, Iris, Matusse, Nuno, Oscar, Sidaúque e Zacarias; students at ENAV. I would like to thank Soley, Xadreque and Victor at ENAV for their support in setting up and developing ZONA#. Here the projects developed:

Type / Context / City Just before ZONA started, the last year students at ENAV developed an exercise in creating letters while playing with scale and context. The focus was to attentively look at the city, researching different points of view, then to camouflage letters into the city. Following lectures in type and type history, my aim was that students had fun creating letters; during the exercise, I was looking to address in practice aspects of my lectures. Photos here >>

Signaling Maputo Holes Deep holes exist scattered around pavements in the center of the city. In the area of ZONA#1 (one block) we counted 49 of them! People often fall, breaking arms and legs. They exist in crowded pavements, in front of shops, at the bottom of stairs. ZONA#1  signalised these holes while simultaneously creating a way finding system. The underlining intention was to call for the attention of the municipality in solving this problem. See this project here >>

Creating Garbage Disposal Garbage disposal was an issue in this area of Maputo. There was no infrastructure for people to dispose of waste. This was a common complaint in the interviews carried out: bad small and lack of hygienic when children play outside, food is sold on the ground; people cook and eat outside. Several hypothesis were tested before recycling old computer cases as garbage bins. See this project here >>

Garden Mural Transforming a vacant space in the Square of the Independence used to urinate and garbage disposal, by creating a mural with the painting of a large garden. Hoping to clean the space and alter habits, but also to call attention for the need to address this part of the square. See this project here >>

We are Watching Men urinate on the street,  trees have a coat of urine at their base, provoking a very bad smell. This intervention aimed at tackling this. See this project here >>

Electric Poles One of the concerns of the students working was to create a cheap solution to protect people from the electric wires hanging out of most electric poles in Maputo. They created rubber patches and used wire to hold them to the poles. See this project here >>