CHINKO headquarters
The Central African Republic is a crisis-ridden, economically poor country but it has a fabulous wealth of untouched natural areas. One of these is the Chinko/Mbari basin in the east of the country. The Chinko Project (CP) NGO made it their aim to protect this valuable ecosystem from illegal logging, organised poaching and the spread of rebel groups while at the same time creating jobs and training opportunities for local people. At the start of 2014, the NGO commissioned the BASEhabitat studio to create a design for their central infrastructure (headquarters). On-site implementation was to be optimized by providing a flexible master plan, a construction handbook, and the main construction details. During an intensive design phase, architectural visions were created for the Chinko national park. These were then used as an integral part of several applications for support. The official recognition as a national park followed in December 2014, and with that the necessary financial resources to start the project. The implementation of the headquarters on the ground started in the very same year. However, it quickly became apparent that planning and implementation can be two completely different things.
Images and Plans
Technical Description
The basic plan for the headquarter was a flexible masterplan that proposed various houses arranged around a yard. The system could be amplified and copied.
Rooms for scientists, security members and 70 park-rangers, 20 workers and 2 families from the management were required as well as a social room, kitchen and store, rooms for preparing meat, and a sanitary unit. Rooms for storage, repairing cars and carports were also planned.