Housing the urban invisibles

News - 21 May 2019 - Communication BK

Visiting Professor Marina Tabassum took students of the Global Housing design studio on a tour through Dhaka, exploring the social and spatial patterns of inhabitation in Dhaka. The design studio focuses on the theme ‘Dhaka: Housing the urban invisibles’, and will synthesise the student findings in a ‘Dhaka book of patterns’. 

Students of the MSc2 design studio travelled to Dhaka, Bangladesh, in the last week of April 2019, together with teachers Dick van Gameren and Nelson Mota. Visiting professor Marina Tabassum organised several debates and presentations with local scholars and architects, in collaboration with the Bengal Institute for Architecture, Landscapes and Settlements (BIALS). Among others, the students attended lectures by Hasibul Kabir, Vitti, KKA, and Arijit Chatterjee and Asha Surma; gaining insight in the current housing and urbanisation challenges in Dhaka. 

The students visited several sites, including Marina Tabassum’s own Bait ur Rouf Mosque and Swadhinata Stambha (Bangladesh’s Independence monument and museum). The group also visited other architectural masterpieces, such as Louis Kahn’s Dhaka Parliament Complex, and Muzharul Islam’s Institute of Fine Arts.

The students visited Korail, the biggest slum of Dhaka, and developed site surveys for Tejgaon, the site of their project. The survey developed in Dhaka will be compiled in a research booklet, the ‘Dhaka Book of Patterns’. This booklet will synthesise the group’s research on the social and spatial patterns of inhabitation in Dhaka.