Friendship Center - Bangladesh
Date Added
08/07/2019
Content Type
Video Link
Link to Content
Subject Area
Architecture
Publisher Name
Aga Khan Award
Description
The
Friendship Center near the district town of Gaibandha, Bangladesh, is
for an NGO which works with some of the poorest in the country and who live
mainly in riverine islands (chars) with very limited access and opportunities.
Friendship uses the facility for its own training programs and will also rent
out for meetings, training, conferences etc. as income generation.
The low lying
land, which is located in rural Gaibandha where agriculture is
predominant, is under threat of flooding if the embankment encircling the town
and peripheries break.
An extensive
program with a very limited fund meant that raising the structures above flood
level (a height of eight feet) was not an option: nearly the entire available
fund would be lost below grade. Being in an earthquake zone and the low bearing
capacity of the silty soil added further complications. The third and final
design relies on a surrounding embankment for flood protection while building
directly on existing soil, in load bearing masonry. Rainwater and surface
run-off are collected in internal pools and the excess is pumped to an
excavated pond, also to be used for fishery. The design relies on natural ventilation
and cooling, being facilitated by courtyards and pools and the earth covering
on roofs. An extensive network of septic tanks and soak wells ensure the sewage
does not mix with flood water.
The ‘Ka' Block contains the reception pavilion,
offices, library, training/conference rooms and pavilions, a prayer space and a
small 'cha-shop’. The 'Kha' Block, connected by three archways, is for more
private functions and houses the dormitories, the dining pavilion and staff and
family quarters. The laundry and drying shed is located on the other side of
the pond. There is no air-conditioning and the entire lighting is through LED
and energy efficient lamps.
As in construction, so in conception - the complex of the centre rise and exist as echo of ruins, alive with the memory of the remains of Mahasthan (3rd century BC), some sixty kilometers away. Constructed and finished primarily of one material - local hand- made bricks - the spaces arc woven out of pavilions, courtyards, pools and greens; corridors and shadows. Simplicity is the intent, monastic is the feel. The centre serves and brings together some of the poorest of poor in the country and -by extension - in the world, yet in the extreme limitation of means was a search for the luxury of light and shadows of the economy and generosity of small spaces; of the joy of movement and discovery in the bare and the essential.
References:
Files
01_General_View_With_Dining_Pavilion_In_The_Foreground_(Photo_-Eric_Chenal).jpg
02_Entrance_(Photo-Anup_Basak).jpg
03_Pavilion_(Photo_-_Eric_Chenal).jpg
05_View_From_Reception_Pavilion_(Photo_-_Eric_Chenal).jpg
06_View_Towards_Entry_(Photo_-_Kashef_Chowdhury).jpg
10_Courtyard_(Photo_-_Eric_Chenal).jpg