THINK TANK Rebuilds Kinshasa's Zando Central Market

An 81,500-square-meter market conceived as "an African market, not a mall" has opened in Kinshasa, replacing a congested site built for 3,500 vendors that had swelled to an estimated 20,000 traders. THINK TANK architecture designed the new Zando Central Market in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, publishing the project on ArchDaily on September 24, 2026.

The problems at the old market were severe. According to the architects, poor sanitation, inadequate waste management and uncontrolled occupation had "progressively degraded the site and blocked surrounding streets." The replacement is urban regeneration as much as architecture: new infrastructure intended to restore order, safety, dignity and accessibility without erasing the market's social role.

The design is bioclimatic and low-tech. Thermal mass, natural ventilation and solar protection are built into the architecture rather than supplied by mechanical systems. Terracotta brick façades function as contemporary moucharabiehs, filtering sunlight, allowing air to circulate and shielding pedestrian walkways. The open-air concrete structure produces naturally shaded spaces, and varying roof heights let hot air escape. The architects state that the market keeps "constant contact with the neighbourhood, vegetation and sky," helping visitors orient themselves within the vast complex and preserving the spatial experience of an African urban market.

The palette is deliberately limited to two materials: concrete and brick. Concrete answers the structural, durability and maintenance demands of a large public building while drawing on local resources and expertise. Brick, deeply rooted in Congolese building traditions, clads the façades. To supply the project, three brick factories within a 60-kilometer radius were reactivated, linking construction to local industry and material culture. Passive design cuts energy demand, and using materials as both structure and finish reduces secondary trades and long-term maintenance.

Five landscaped patios organize the plan, carrying open ground, vegetation and daylight into the heart of the complex. Rainwater feeds storage tanks used for irrigation, cleaning and firefighting. Local trees and tropical planting extend a biological corridor toward the nearby botanical garden, providing habitat for insects, birds, butterflies and small mammals.

The brief from the client was, in the architects' words, "quite synthetic." The project team organized workshops with city departments, urban authorities, vendors, market management and firefighters, producing an urban, architectural, functional and economic program that funded the scheme.

Accessibility is integral. Large ramps link all levels, giving people with disabilities access to the entire market, and a range of shop sizes, stalls and informal trading spaces accommodates traders across economic levels.

The architecture cites local memory directly. Its concrete structure recalls the mushroom-shaped slabs of the former market, converting a familiar image into a structural and climatic device. The terracotta façade patterns draw on traditional motifs while performing ventilation and solar protection.

The architects frame the outcome as "neither a nostalgic reconstruction nor an imported model but a contemporary African market, where climate, material, culture, economy and public life are made inseparable." For Kinshasa, the building doubles as a test case: whether infrastructure of this scale, built with local brick and passive systems, can absorb the city's informal trade while keeping the market genuinely public.