Creole architecture
In the Seychelles, there's no need to motivate the population with a contest for the most beautiful village! Embellishing your kaz (house) is second nature here. Each house is as much a testimony to its originality as it is to its similarities with the others, so as to blend in perfectly with the architectural and vegetal landscape. From the superb, vast colonial wooden house to the small, modest corrugated iron dwelling, contact with nature is a constant, if not a necessity. From the capital Victoria, on the island of Mahé, to the small, remote village, wood, cement and corrugated iron form a visual and architectural harmony. Color, pastel for traditional houses and bright for popular ones, always adds a touch of cheerfulness. It's not unusual to find houses painted in the colors of the national flag: blue, yellow, red, white and green. The Seychellois house has many large openings that filter light and facilitate air circulation, as does its particularly sloping roof - a major concern in this hot country. Rather scattered, essentially rural and generally distributed around the coasts or on mountainsides, the Seychellois habitat, as a result of its mixed heritage, is above all Creole.
Stores in the Seychelles retain all the charm of Creole architecture. Their pastel-colored facades contrast with their rust-red roofs. Bright colors decorate the windows and door frames. The first floor was used for commercial purposes, while the upper floor was reserved for domestic spaces.
Beautiful kaz, well prioritized
The distribution of landholdings had a major influence on Creole housing. Each estate consisted of the master's house and outbuildings. Industrial buildings (mills, ovens, fuel distillation workshops, sheds, etc.) were spread out behind a food-growing area. Finally, at the edge of the estate, the kaz kreol were used to house slaves and employees. On these farms, a sort of interdependent community, there were three types of dwellings, reflecting the systemic social compartmentalization of the master (owner) and the slave. Today, however, we can discover the rich craftsmanship of their artisans.
The straw hut, consisting of a single room whose floor is fixed on small stone stilts and whose roof is assembled from latanier or vacoa leaves, was reserved for slaves. They still exist today, especially in fishing villages. Their walls are sometimes lined with colorful magazine pages, making them curious paper houses.
The most common dwelling is ti la kaz (the little hut, also known as kaz kreol), set on four masonry battens to prevent damp and encourage water run-off. Hundreds of them can be found, especially in suburban areas and in the mountains. Their variety and bright colors are fascinating. A staircase with a few steps leads to the varangue, a kind of veranda open onto the façade, which extends the living room and protects from the sun. The Kaz of the Union Estate Farm on La Digue Island now houses the collections of the National Plantation Museum. Others have been transformed into guest houses, like the evocatively named Lakaz an Bwa, also on La Digue. This beautiful residence is magnificently decorated with mantling.
Access to the gran kaz is usually via a shady, flower-filled driveway. This imposing house - sometimes called a château - is set in the center of a pleasure garden. These remarkable residences are a reminder of the skills and talents of journeymen craftsmen. The superb parquet floors and ingenious roof ventilation system are awe-inspiring. These are the homes of dreams, but above all, the homes of masters. Kenwyn House in Victoria is a listed national monument, but closed in 2023 for renovation. This magnificent mansion was built in 1855 as a doctor's residence and retains its original wooden structure. Its wooden balcony, built on the same model as the varangue it overlooks, contrasts beautifully with the green metal sheets of the roof.
The difficult preservation of Creole heritage
Witnesses to the colonial and slave-owning past, these homes have not stood the test of time, falling into disrepair one after the other due to a lack of personal resources to maintain them. Despite a law passed in 1980 designed to ensure the preservation of the most beautiful residences, notably by instituting a system of subsidies for their restoration, the preservation of traditional architecture remains ineffective. Although a large proportion of these houses have disappeared, the most common remains today are the planters' houses. Moreover, it is estimated that almost no new buildings have been constructed in the Creole style since the 1970s. This is largely due to modernization and changing lifestyles.
Symbols of Seychellois Creole architecture, a few dozen houses have managed to escape demolition. The village artisanal on Mahé (with its adjoining Creole restaurant) and the Maison jaune on La Digue are two successful examples of the preservation and enhancement of the heritage available to tourists.
In Victoria, the capital, the Victoria Clock is a beautiful legacy of the early 20th century. This beautiful silver turret sits in the middle of a traffic circle at the crossroads of the city's main avenues and still tells passers-by the time. As its name suggests, it was named in honor of the recently deceased Queen Victoria.
The government's main objective is to provide all Seychellois with a decent home for their families - with preferential loans and social housing construction. Talking to the zabitans, we soon realize that, for lack of housing, many young couples still live with their parents, sometimes in promiscuity! In these conditions, everyone dreams of having a solid house, with electricity and bathroom - and especially not a sheet roof, which is not only expensive but not very durable, since it has to be renewed every twenty years. It's not surprising, then, to find that sheet-metal houses are outnumbering wooden ones, which are still quite common on Praslin and La Digue.
A late contemporaneity marked by traditional architecture
Architecture is modernizing rather late on the archipelago, which recently made its debut at the 2017 Venice Biennale. The country was represented by local agency ADDlocus, which blends traditional architecture and materials with contemporary forms. The guest villas built by the group on Fregate Island display the same traditional character, but seen from the air, their square pavilions attached to each other by verandas form a curious interplay of geometric shapes, an abstract design that contrasts sharply against the lush vegetation.
The neotraditional style is widespread throughout the archipelago, and few houses deviate from the rule, a pleasant uniformity for locals and travelers alike, since the landscape is disfigured little or not at all. These new guest villas have wooden walls, a tin or wooden tile roof and, like their ancestors, often have above-ground foundations to adapt to the sometimes rugged terrain. They rest on strong pillars or even stilts. Terraces, pavilions and verandas form a large, single-storey ensemble open to the vegetation and landscape. Swimming pools complete this paradise for tourists - who unfortunately seem to be the only ones to benefit from these modernizations. Contemporary architecture, while reproducing its forms, often loses the charm and authenticity of its model.
