2007 – 2008

HOMEmade family homes
Model houses for rural low-income families
Bangladesh

category
Designed, Built

Photo: Kurt Hörbst

The majority of the 150 million inhabitants of Bangladesh live in the country, generally in poor houses made of earth and bamboo. Even though these traditional building materials are extremely sustainable, people are now demanding ‘modern’ houses built of fired bricks, concrete and corrugated iron. This has to do, on the one hand, with urban models, on the other with a building tradition that is technically outdated and has not been further developed for centuries. Recently, with the help of14 architecture students from Bangladesh and Austria as well as local workers, three model houses have been erected in Rudrapur that combine local building methods with the growing need for space and new demands in terms of comfort.

As is standard in original rural Bangladeshi architecture, the bathroom and kitchen are housed in separate parts of the building. By means of two-storey construction (unusual in the countryside in Bangladesh) the new houses double the floor area without increasing the amount of land used. The area of ground saved can be used to provide a small garden for the house. The upper floor also introduces a new experience: a view and greater privacy. Thermal storage mass in the roof, coconut fibre insulation, glazed windows and the provision of cross-ventilation guarantee a pleasant indoor climate throughout the entire year.

Photos: Kurt Hörbst

Design
Adrita Anwar, Shoeb Al-Rahe, Tanmay Chakrabarty, Omar Faruque, Majeda Khatun, Imrul Kayes, Gazi Fazle Rahim, Suvashis Saha (BRAC University Dhaka, Bangladesh) + Cornelia Bräuer, Katharina Doblinger, Belinda Meinhart, Verena Schoißengeyr, Anna Wolf (Kunstuniversität Linz)

Concept
Anna Heringer and Khondaker Hasibul Kabir

Realization
Local community + students

Site management
Stefan Neumann, Montu Ram Saw, Azit Ray

Consultants
Stefan Neumann (engineering), Martin Rauch (earthworks), Oskar Pankratz (building physics and solar energy)

Partner
Dipshikha, Habitat of Humanity Bangladesh

Awards (Selection)
ARaward for Emerging Architecture

Sponsor
Shanti