The Survey of the Tropical City: The Urban Artefacts of Kinshasa as Permanences

Kinshasa is intended as an architectural city that builds itself over time. Exclusively, a thorough study of the artefacts that history consigned to our tangible and intangible memory can constitute a legacy for future generations. It is a common understanding that heritage is linked with the work of our ancestors; however, when this heritage is part of a colonial city, Kinshasa (Léopoldville), the question of the story that would carry its heritage becomes crucial. The paper aims to analyse the development of the capital city of Congo, according to a survey of its ‘permanences’ and the constructions still writing the city’s history. These buildings, namely—the BCB Bank, the Sabena Towers and the Saint Anthony Church—do not speak for themselves; they are part of an urban system put in place by the Belgians to shape the modern city under the tropics. Nevertheless, the modernism that characterises downtown Kinshasa carries the features of local identity cleverly expressed by the tropical architecture. The research showcases the approach to the survey of the artefacts, reporting the phases of the process that lead first to identifying the buildings and then to their value as a whole. The surveying process has seen the involvement of the School of Architecture and Urban Design in Kinshasa to make future generations aware of the importance of the critical study of the past. Moreover, the survey activity has made it possible to identify and classify the constituent elements of tropical architecture and, therefore, also the founding aspects of the tropical city.