VOICES IN THE BLUEPRINT
This thesis reimagines Bhola slum in Dhaka through affordable, incremental housing rooted in community needs. A masterplan of low-rise clusters, shared facilities, and revitalized waterbody integrates density, adaptability, and livelihood, creating a dignified, sustainable, and replicable urban model.
Project Media
Aerial View of Community Clusters
The aerial view illustrates hexagonal housing clusters organized around courtyards and open greens. Community facilities, markets, and gathering spaces are interwoven within a pedestrian-friendly fabric. The arrangement balances density with openness, creating a vibrant neighborhood where homes, livelihood, and public life coexist in harmony.
Site Analysis and Participatory Design Framework
The sheet analyzes site conditions, demographics, and housing challenges to frame design guidelines rooted in community needs. Using a participatory approach, dwellers’ voices guide decisions on density, shared spaces, and services. The concept evolves into inclusive clusters that integrate the waterbody, livelihood, and social well-being.
Masterplan for Inclusive Community Living
The masterplan integrates household, rental, and ultra-low-cost clusters with community facilities, schools, markets, and healthcare, all organized around a revitalized waterbody. Pedestrian-friendly lanes, green buffers, and shared open spaces weave housing with livelihood, creating a resilient, humane, and adaptable urban fabric.
Clusters of Community Living
The visualization shows compact clusters of low- and mid-rise housing with shared-wall units, rental rooms, and individually owned spaces. Multiuse courtyards, green buffers, and pedestrian pathways weave the clusters together, creating a vibrant, human-scaled urban neighborhood with communal facilities.
Life Unfolding on Terraces
Individually owned units open to shared terraces that shift function through the day—morning chores and child prep, afternoon meals and rest, lively evening gatherings of women, children, and men, and at night, flexible use as sleeping space—creating a dynamic platform for family and community life.
Shared Walls, Shared Lives
Ultra-low-cost sublet units use shared walls and courtyards to balance affordability with income support. Rental clusters, arranged around common spaces, offer secure, flexible housing for temporary dwellers. The visualization shows brick and paneled clusters linked by terraces, balconies, and green lanes, forming a vibrant human-scaled neighborhood.
Fabric of Daily Life
The visualization shows everyday interiors and vibrant courtyards where life continually unfolds—living rooms transform into hubs, verandas embrace chores and gatherings, and shaded commons weave play, markets, and encounters into a living fabric of community.
Project Score
This project hasn't been rated yet.
Be the first to rate this project
Project Team (1)
PUBLISHED ON 1st October 2025
Explore Architecture Competitions
Discover active competitions in this discipline
The International Standard for Design Portfolios
The Global Benchmark for Architecture Dissertation Awards
The Global Benchmark for Graduation Excellence
Challenge to reimagine the Iron Throne
Similar Projects
Discover related projects you might like
Comments (0)
Please login or sign up to add comments
No comments yet. Be the first to comment!