Dissecting Colonial Architecture

Abstract

The landhuis is nowadays the most recognizable aspect of the Curaçaoan plantation landscape. The reality of the history of the plantation now hides behind these colourful villas. This thesis focuses on placing the architecture of the plantation in the spatial and historical framework from which they originated.
The main question answered in this thesis is: What was the typology of the Curaçaoan plantation, and how is it now represented in the island's cultural heritage? This question is answered by literary and archival research, picturing the history and trajectory of the plantations on Curaçao. The research is textually and visually, through maps and diagrams, translated into the thesis.
The architecture of the landhuizen is the most maintained and preserved aspect of the plantation landscape, while most other structures such as the settlements of the enslaved, the corrals and mangasinas have mostly vanished or fallen to ruins. These are precisely the functions referring to the original history and function of the plantation. When looking at the plantation's redevelopment, this does not seem accidental. Most of the landhuizen have left their history in the past and chosen an entirely new function.