African projects of Zdeněk Fránek's studio
After Zdeněk Fránek gained experience in North America, he began to realize projects not only in the Czech Republic and nearby European countries but also secured several contracts in Asia. Now, yet another challenge has opened up before his studio in the form of projects on the African continent. Specifically, these involve lighthouses and a museum on the Cape Verde Islands and a primate rescue station in nature parks in Cameroon and Congo.
Zdeněk Fránek has demonstrated a long-term interest in the environment since the mid-1980s when he became a member of the Czechoslovak Union of Nature Conservationists. During his tenure as the head of the Faculty of Art and Architecture in Liberec (2012-18), he also supported Bořek Šípek in introducing a new field of Environmental Design in the Czech Republic. Since 2019, Zdeněk Fránek has been leading the Environmental Design studio for architecture at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art in Pilsen, where he aims to educate a new generation of architects who will be more empathetic to the environment. Fránek's Brno office also collaborates with the Slavkov company LIKO-S, which specializes in green facades and living walls, among other things.
The first of the African projects is located in the Mefou National Park (Parc de la Méfou), an hour's drive south of Yaoundé (the capital of Cameroon). The task was to create a scientific station for the rescue of primates in the middle of the rainforest. In addition to mandrills, gorillas, and chimpanzees, the nature reserve is also home to other protected species such as pangolins.
The second project is set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the second-largest and fourth-most populous country on the African continent. The rescue station will serve the employees of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, located on the eastern border where Lake Kivu separates Congo from Rwanda. The nature reserve covers an area of 600,000 hectares and is one of the last natural refuges for rare mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, as well as elephants and leopards.
Zdeněk Fránek personally visited both sites not only to gain inspiration and better understand the local environment but also to become more acquainted with the building culture and to adapt his designs accordingly. He learned about the local building supplies stores and the possibilities offered by construction companies. In the design process, he collaborated with local engineers who oversee the completion of the project, which is slowly nearing its end in Cameroon.
The outer walls of the educational center in Cameroon are made of concrete blocks that serve as permanent formwork. The strip windows are equipped with thick reinforcing wires for safety against animal attacks, which, however, do not appear as prison bars; rather, their wavy arrangement has a decorative effect. Concrete reinforcement is also used for welding the truss beams that cover the single-storey buildings. The flat roof made of corrugated metal has sufficient overhangs to protect the buildings from tropical rains. Water from the roofs is directed into collection containers and subsequently utilized. The light green coating of all elements is intended to facilitate the blending of the building with the surrounding rainforest.
The project in Congo went through several variations, but all proposals shared the characteristic material of exposed brickwork made of small-format fired bricks, which is typical of the local region. The original oval structure with a fan-like design has been simplified into a rectangular floor plan with a slightly convex roof that directs rainwater to all four corners, where it fills drop-shaped tanks. The main load-bearing structure consists of concrete columns. The infill exposed brickwork is made of small-fired bricks. The roof made of steel trusses is lined on the underside with wooden plywood, which slightly arches and lends an impression of spaciousness and dynamism to the main hall of the training center.
Congo is currently experiencing an intensified political situation, and nature conservation projects are not the main priority, but construction is already in full swing in the safer Cameroon.
Zdeněk Fránek has demonstrated a long-term interest in the environment since the mid-1980s when he became a member of the Czechoslovak Union of Nature Conservationists. During his tenure as the head of the Faculty of Art and Architecture in Liberec (2012-18), he also supported Bořek Šípek in introducing a new field of Environmental Design in the Czech Republic. Since 2019, Zdeněk Fránek has been leading the Environmental Design studio for architecture at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art in Pilsen, where he aims to educate a new generation of architects who will be more empathetic to the environment. Fránek's Brno office also collaborates with the Slavkov company LIKO-S, which specializes in green facades and living walls, among other things.
The first of the African projects is located in the Mefou National Park (Parc de la Méfou), an hour's drive south of Yaoundé (the capital of Cameroon). The task was to create a scientific station for the rescue of primates in the middle of the rainforest. In addition to mandrills, gorillas, and chimpanzees, the nature reserve is also home to other protected species such as pangolins.
The second project is set in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the second-largest and fourth-most populous country on the African continent. The rescue station will serve the employees of the Kahuzi-Biega National Park, located on the eastern border where Lake Kivu separates Congo from Rwanda. The nature reserve covers an area of 600,000 hectares and is one of the last natural refuges for rare mountain gorillas, chimpanzees, as well as elephants and leopards.
Zdeněk Fránek personally visited both sites not only to gain inspiration and better understand the local environment but also to become more acquainted with the building culture and to adapt his designs accordingly. He learned about the local building supplies stores and the possibilities offered by construction companies. In the design process, he collaborated with local engineers who oversee the completion of the project, which is slowly nearing its end in Cameroon.
The outer walls of the educational center in Cameroon are made of concrete blocks that serve as permanent formwork. The strip windows are equipped with thick reinforcing wires for safety against animal attacks, which, however, do not appear as prison bars; rather, their wavy arrangement has a decorative effect. Concrete reinforcement is also used for welding the truss beams that cover the single-storey buildings. The flat roof made of corrugated metal has sufficient overhangs to protect the buildings from tropical rains. Water from the roofs is directed into collection containers and subsequently utilized. The light green coating of all elements is intended to facilitate the blending of the building with the surrounding rainforest.
The project in Congo went through several variations, but all proposals shared the characteristic material of exposed brickwork made of small-format fired bricks, which is typical of the local region. The original oval structure with a fan-like design has been simplified into a rectangular floor plan with a slightly convex roof that directs rainwater to all four corners, where it fills drop-shaped tanks. The main load-bearing structure consists of concrete columns. The infill exposed brickwork is made of small-fired bricks. The roof made of steel trusses is lined on the underside with wooden plywood, which slightly arches and lends an impression of spaciousness and dynamism to the main hall of the training center.
Congo is currently experiencing an intensified political situation, and nature conservation projects are not the main priority, but construction is already in full swing in the safer Cameroon.
The text was created based on a meeting in the Brno studio on January 21, 2025
The English translation is powered by AI tool. Switch to Czech to view the original text source.
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