Bangladesh’s name heard loud in MuscatBangladeshi architects receive 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture

Two Bangladeshi projects “Urban River Spaces, Jhenaidah” and “Community Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response, Cox’s Bazar” on Monday night received the prestigious 2022 Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) at a ceremony held in Muscat, the capital of Oman.

Amid cheers from the crowd at the Royal Opera House of Muscat Arts, Bangladeshi architects received the awards bringing much pride for the country.

The six winners – two from Bangladesh - will share the $1 million award, one of the largest in architecture that shows promise for communities, innovation and care for the environment.

Urban River Spaces, Jhenaidah

Khondaker Hasibul Kabir and Suhailey Farzana, an architect couple from Jhenaidah, received the award for their community-led initiative.

“We are working as per their desire and as architects we are getting involved in a process,” said Farzana. 

Architect Kabir said what they are focusing on is community and people-led work and remains optimistic that people from other parts of the country will be inspired to do something similar.

“We feel very happy because we didn’t do it alone. We are representing a big team. We are also representing the people of the country,” she said.

Architect Kabir said the people of the whole city are happy and they now have an additional responsibility. “We can do many more things for the country and its people.”

Through consistent community participation and appropriation, extensive involvement of women and marginalised groups, and a local workforce, the seemingly simple undertaking of cleaning up the access to the Nabaganga river in Jhenaidah led to a thoughtful and minimal landscaping project with local materials and construction techniques, thus transforming a derelict informal dump site into an attractive and accessible multifunctional space that is valued by Jhenaidah’s diverse communities.

As such, the project managed to reverse the ecological degradation and health hazards of the river and its banks, and induce effective ecological improvement of the river, in one of the most riverine countries on earth.

The community-driven project provides public spaces in the riverine city with 250,000 residents; over time, access to and use of the river and banks had become impeded.

To date, the project comprises two ghats – steps leading down to platforms at the river, with adjacent walkways – and the opening of obstructed pedestrian pathways leading to them.

Locally available materials such as brick and concrete were used in the simple, contextual designs, all built by local builders and masons; the site-specific projects retain all existing trees and vegetation.

Future phases focus on public use of the river area with walkways, gardens, cultural facilities and environmental efforts to increase biodiversity in the river.

Community Spaces in Rohingya Refugee Response, Cox’s Bazar

Architects Saad Ben Mostafa,s Khwaja Fatmi and Rizvi Hassan received the award with other winners.

The six temporary community spaces of the Rohingya Refugee Response programme provide a dignified, sensitive and ingenious response to emergency needs related to the major influx of Rohingya refugees into Bangladeshi host communities, with particular attention to the safety of women and girls.

The concept and design of the six spaces are the result of appropriate planning, solid partnerships and inclusive processes involving the diverse refugee and host communities, such as defining spatial and functional needs.