Futurarc Green Leadership Award

Nur-e-Dipha Shamima Muttaqi is a Master of Urban Planning student with a vision for socially inclusive design. Together with her architectural partners, Shareq and Iftekhar, Nur-e has been awarded the 2014 Futurarc Green Leadership Award for socially inclusive development. 

The Rishipara Mandir Paathshaala School in Bangladesh was an ambitious project and the first architectural feat for these early career designers since graduating from the Bachelor of Architecture at Brac University, Bangladesh.

The school is part of an education program initiated by American, Christopher Lee Hesse, and Australian, Markus S Favrus, and run by the Subornogram Foundation, which provides access to education for children across Bangladesh’s marginalised communities.

Nur-e and Shareq had been involved in a number of Subornogram initiatives so the foundation asked them to lead the design of the project. The school previously held only one classroom built of corrugated iron sheets yet it was expected to cater for the learning needs of 85 children aged six to 14.

The design team felt it was vital to engage the community at all stages of the process to instil a sense of ownership and ensure the school truly met their needs. They held design workshops with children and adults, which espoused the importance of the Shahid Minar and a flexible community area. They engaged local artisans, as well as members of the local community to ensure the school could be maintained well into the future. Neighbours contributed their specialised skills such as making mats and bamboo light shades.

The structure is constructed primarily from mud and bamboo, harking back to traditional building in the area, but the design team incorporated new building techniques to ensure the structure remains durable and sustainable. The innate openness of the design accommodates learning, as well as community activities and reinforces that this is a shared space.

“We tried to integrate the interior academic spaces with the natural backdrop of luscious green trees similar to the environment of the traditional Paathshaala, that once took place under a huge Banyan tree,” Nur-e explains. 

“The sole purpose of creating such an appealing learning environment for children was to reduce the drop-out rate and encourage integration of these marginalised children into the broader community.”

Nur-e, born in Bangladesh but resident in Australia since the age of three returned to her home country to study at Brac University. Given her experience and understanding of two distinct cultures she feels her unique contribution to such projects is the ability to bridge the gap. Upon graduating she gained work experience with ACCOM in Australia and is now in her second year of the Master of Urban Planning.

www.abp.unimelb.edu.au