Visit to Sylhet and the surrounding area, the Institute of Architects Bangladesh arranged a 7days workshop from August 1st to August 7th 2022. An emergency team visited haor areas in Sunamgonj, Golapgonj and other places in Sylhet to understand the conditions of the communities. The aim of the workshop was to experiment through hands-on designing & building with people. A wash facility and an experimental floating structure were built in Lohajuri village which is not accessible by road. The team stayed in the village for five intense days and was successfully built after the assessment.
The wash facility was built for a family that lacks one. Two other families were also helped with materials to build/upgrade theirs. It was not charity work rather the benefitted families helped a lot during this workshop in many ways.
Ji-oy boat (meaning Yes Boat), the floating structure, was one of the experimental works done in the seven days workshop. The structure is an experiment for future solutions in Haor flood-prone areas. This one has been designed as a classroom for kids during floods when they are unable to come to Madrasa. The Madrasa is the only community facility in this isolated village and the team decided to build a relationship with the committee for betterment. The structure can also be used as emergency transport during floods as many families need to shift their belongings when their houses go underwater.
The experiment aims at future housing solutions. Similar solutions can be useful in places where communities struggle even just to protect the plinth. The team will be in close contact with the community representatives in the upcoming days, to understand the performance of the design solution and will act according to feedback.
Construction work took two and a half days after the consultation.
Design & Execution Team: Rizvi Hassan, Khwaja Nuzhat Zerin Fatmi, Kwosur Ali, Afra Anan Saba, Fahmid Mahib, Tahmidul Alam, Arnab Nur, Ahamed Faria, Minhajul Abedin Chowdhury
Images by: Rizvi Hassan
