Currency Museum | COSTALOPES

The new Currency Museum is located on the bay waterfront of Luanda, in the heart of the city downtown, at the Major Saidy Mingas Square, nearby the charismatic headquarters of the National Bank of Angola.
 
The program was pretext for two major interventions. On one hand, it disposes the museum spaces below ground, becoming more reserved and quiet. On the other, its roof establishes a new urban square that both denotes the museum and enables the celebration of public space, in some way expanding the new public spaces of Luanda’s waterfront.
 
With 4 800sqm, the museum reveals itself in the irregular stereotomy generated by excavation, with its entry announced by the stairs void and the metallic parasols that generate shadow and urban scale. It includes two exhibition areas (permanent and temporary), complemented by public areas and an auditorium to support learning activities.
 
The new stone paved urban square generates a subtle topography justified by the bay views and the nearby context, allowing rest, pathways, diverse public equipment and redesigning its central ambition as a public space open to the city and the community life.