Embroidering Identities

Redesigning a REFUGEE CENTER

YEAR: 2020
SOFTWARES: Autodesk Revit, Adobe Photoshop, Enscape,

DESCRIPTION: The design goal of this project is to improve the quality of life of the Rohingya community through eco-conscious living, leading to a calmer and more healthy lifestyle. The Rohingya community are faced with an identity crisis, so this space attempts to create a feeling of unity, while also offering the opportunity for individuality. This is achieved through the use of traditional elements synonymous with their culture, like courtyards, patterns, and textures. The design takes inspiration from the ancient courtyard architecture of Bangladesh, where the courtyard is a symbol of regional architectural identity in rural Bangladesh. Unlike a typical courtyard within a house that that has built forms surrounding all sides, the Bangladeshi rural homestead is composed of a number of closely-spaced buildings around on open space, introverting the traditional idea of a courtyard. Because of this introverted nature, it serves the purpose of privacy similar to a traditional courtyard within a building, but on a much larger scale, typical of several other Islamic communities. This set-up provides one with a sense of home and community, something the Rohingya community has been lacking, and something that would promote a sense of belonging and bonding amongst the individual dwellings and families that make up this homestead

CONCEPT / VISION

 The design  primarily draws inspiration by mimicking the ancient courtyard architecture from Bangladesh.The courtyard is a symbol of regional architectural identity in rural Bangladesh. Unlike a typical courtyard house with built forms bounding the courtyard from all sides, the Bangladeshi rural homestead is composed of a number of closely spaced buildings around an open space, clearly defining a similar introverted courtyard layout. Because of its introverted nature, it serves the purpose of privacy similar to courtyard houses in other traditional Islamic societies. This composition  not only provides a sense of home to the visitors but also gives an opportunity to de densify the structure and provide green  and interactive nodes.

Rohingya community suffers from identity crises as they are often disconnected from other refugees of Bangladesh. The project attempts to create a feeling of unity and individuality amongst the people through the use of traditional elements like courtyards, patterns and textures which have deeper emotional connect with the community . The courtyard here provides a sense of belonging and weaves a collective bonding between the individual dwellings and thereby family members that comprise the homestead. Goal was for the refugees to build confidence, interact and find themselves.