Two alumni and a lecturer of the Department of Architecture under the School of Architecture and Design at BRAC University have won the first and second prizes of a workshop organized by the Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB).
The half-day “Design Charrette of Young Architects Under 40” was an IAB Golden Jubilee Event held for the IAB members at the IAB Centre in Agargaon of Dhaka. The task was to design an outdoor seating area with a canopy at the open yard of IAB Center. The jurors were architect Shirish Beri of the Shirish Beri & Associates, Assistant Professor Bishwajit Goswami of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the University of Dhaka and Rashed Chowdhury of Dehsar Works.
Alumnus Maliha Ahmed received the first prize establishing how sitting postures reflect people’s nature. Her design comprised a helium filled canopy tied to a base of wooden blocks as seats. The blocks can be moved by users, which in turn changes the shape of the canopy. Thus, the canopy becomes a living creature, living, breathing and sitting, mirroring people’s sitting habits.
Lecturer Saad M Kaikobad and alumnus Muntasir Hakim received the second prize with a core idea of reviving underutilized space at the IAB’s open yard. They made use of abandoned infrastructures adjacent to the yard keeping in tune with the essence of the design of the existing IAB building.
First prize winner: Displacement by Maliha Ahmed
Second prize winner: Temporal Inclusivity by Saad M. Kaikobad and Muntasir Hakim