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Bruit
du Frigo

4-16 Mai 2026


F.C. WATA

Fabrique Collective du Lac Municipal


Yaoundé

Cameroon

FC WATA, an urban and artistic workshop

FC WATA is a spontaneous tactical urbanism initiative aimed at reactivating the public use of Yaoundé’s municipal lake through the installation of temporary structures designed and built during a two-week workshop.
Conceived in a pedagogical and participatory approach, the project brought together around thirty students (from : Université Des Montagnes – filière architecture et urbanisme, ESSACA – École Supérieure Spéciale d’Architecture du Cameroun, Institut des Beaux-arts de Foumban, École Nationale Supérieure des Travaux Publics) and a dozen volunteers (schoolchildren and local residents).

The project was imagined by Bruit du frigo, with the participation of the artist Eirini Linardaki, assisted by the Juju Haws art collective. It forms part of the Institut Français du Cameroun’s 2026 cultural season, which is dedicated to the thought of Édouard Glissant and centred on the theme of the “Tout-monde”.

Yaoundé Lake : an urban oasis waiting to be rediscovered

Created in the early 1950s, Yaoundé’s municipal lake was a popular spot for many years, before gradually falling into disuse and suffering severe environmental pollution. Since 2020, a regeneration project led by the City Council and the Minhdu (Ministry of Housing and Urban Development) has been underway to revitalise this oasis right in the city centre.

The FC WATA project seeks to make a modest but active contribution to this ongoing process by revealing the lake’s potential, testing and exploring possible uses, and opening up alternative paths for frugal and ecological interventions.

It does not pretend to resolve the complex urban and environmental issues facing this site, but rather seeks to engage in its regeneration—both in a practical sense through on-the-ground action and in a symbolic sense through reflection and imagination.

An on-site Design-Build Process

The first two days of the on-site residency are devoted to drawing up a development plan based on our field observations and the needs identified during the preliminary survey carried out by the UDM students, to sketching out initial ideas, as well as to organising the construction workshop and the communal area, and to introducing the students and volunteers to the use of tools.
In the wake of this, the first installations were launched and continued throughout the two-week residency, as part of a conceptual and constructive process that was adjusted in real time to the practical conditions on site: production capacity, time remaining, available materials…
At the same time, a group of students is tasked with documenting the project, producing mediation tools and creating a utopian map of the lake featuring new ideas for frugal improvements.

In total, 28 structures were produced over 10 days by around 50 people, using 750 planks of atui (local timber), 400 bamboo poles, 15,000 screws and 50 litres of paint: four shade structures added to the existing benches, a jetty and six deckchairs of different sizes along the riverbanks, 12 picnic tables, an open-air gathering place with capacity for 100 people for events, a long pergola bench and even a catamaran.

No sooner installed, no sooner adopted

The installations have been an immediate success, enabling passers-by and visitors of the lake (hundreds of schoolchildren, fishermen, walkers, etc.) to settle down comfortably, find some shade and finally enjoy the spot, where previously they would simply pass through without stopping to linger.
To mark the opening of these new facilities and celebrate the revitalisation of the Municipal Lake, the Institut Français is organising a festive and cultural closing event, featuring a programme of contemporary and traditional parades and performances.

The beginning of a long adventure ?

The experiment was conceived as a potential catalyst for a long-term project and as an alternative model of action to conventional urban planning, paving the way for collaborative and incremental urbanism. The collective dynamic that was initiated could continue with further steps of co-designed and co-built developments, gradually creating an exemplary ecological park for the benefit of Yaoundé’s residents.

 

F.C. WATA, 10 min
Images et réalisation : Yvan Detraz




























































































































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