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In times of global crises, architecture must also seek new
sustainable approaches to climatic and social challenges. Designed
by Kashef Chowdhury / Urbana, the Friendship Hospital in southern
Bangladesh can be regarded as pioneering in this respect. The
hospital, which was awarded the 2022 RIBA International Prize,
provides life-saving healthcare, as well as enhancing the identity
of a coastal region that has been devastated by cyclones and soil
salinisation as a result of rising sea levels. Constructed in local
brickwork, the architecture collects the valuable rainwater and
uses the wind for natural cooling, while subtly interacting with
specific characteristics of the world’s largest river delta. It
also applies universal architectural means such as space, light and
proportions to ensure the well-being of patients and the people
close to them. A profound architectural stance developed out of the
geography and history of the local context makes this work globally
relevant. This book, which includes a photo essay by Hélène
Binet, presents plans, diagrams and model photos that offer insight
into the design and construction process in one of the world’s
most climate-affected regions.
Over the past years, Dhaka-based architect Kashef Chowdhury has
become renowned for a body of work that responds with great
sensitivity to places, local circumstances, and the demands of a
building's users. At the 2016 International Architecture Exhibition
of the Venice Biennale, Chowdhury presented four recent projects
his firm URBANA has realised in Bangladesh in a fascinating
exhibition which he has designed with equal sensitivity and care.
The labyrinth is an age-old space of intrigue, discovery and
accident, which has fascinated architects throughout history. For
his installation in Venice, Chowdhury challenged spatial
perceptions by a simple turn: the labyrinth - which hides and
blocks - is suddenly made transparent. Notwithstanding the obvious
reference to Venetian glass, the labyrinth retains, or even
accentuates, a sense of spatial disorientation. The installation
was conceived not merely as a hyper-maze but rather as an
expression of the anxiety that the artist experiences in his work
due to a myriad of uncertainties. From design to construction,
funding to maintenance, the part of the world where URBANA chiefly
works presents itself with challenges at every turn, and it is in
this milieu that an architect must operate with firm resolve.
Chowdhury's Glass Labyrinth in Venice seems to explicate the notion
that, although an architect has a clear vision of what he wants to
do, the path to achieving that in the environment in which he
operates, is laden with perplexing barriers. This new book explores
and documents Kashef Chowdhury's intriguing installation in Venice
with beautiful photographs by Eric Chenal and an illuminating text
by Robert McCarter.
Upon setting foot in Dhaka, with its beautifully landscaped gardens
adorning ancient mosques and monuments, it becomes clear that this
is a city steeped in history. One of the oldest settlements in
Bangladesh, it is today among the largest cities in the world, and
rapid, often unplanned, urbanisation has vastly outpaced
sustainability, threatening the historic buildings and communities
that make up the city's cultural soul. But, despite bursting at the
seams, Dhaka's six centuries of history are still visible if we
look carefully in the shadows of the tall buildings, in the spaces
between the speeding cars. Dhaka-based architect Kashef Chowdhury's
camera captures a record of the capital city of the local character
that may soon be lost due to urban development. In Chowdhury's
photographs, a woman hangs sheets of polythene to dry and resell, a
blind man sings mystic love songs. Other photographs reflect
Dhaka's state of social and cultural flux, like an image of weary
night-shift workers returning from a wholesale market in the late
morning or of the barely visible lights of a pick-up truck
concealed to prevent theft. Chowdhury is one of South Asia's most
renowned architects, and Dhaka: Memories or Lost constitutes his
deeply personal tribute to the city.
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