Ehsan Alam | Not A Portfolio

not a portfolio

this is not a portfolio to whom it may concern this is not a portfolio.

This is not a portfolio in its departure from

conventional design exercises which begin with a

supposedly complete reading of a context (which can never fully be read), identification of ‘issues’ (that can

never be enitrely perceived) and end with the proposal of a design (that attempts an absolute fix for issues larger than a project, a semester, or sometimes a lifetime).

Instead, it chronicles a lateral reading of the built-

unbuilt through a diverse set of circumstances—from the almost rural to the synthetic suburb.

Committed to problem posing more than problem

solving, it attempts the reading of (land)scapes, only to arrive at new languages of reading. It identifies

challenges in order to spotlight them; well aware that

such identification is partial and temporal. It also puts forth design- almost always as an act of

co-production, undertaken as an initiator of continued discourse ..

and not conclusive solutions.

Ehsan

Ann Arbor, 2025

\0 chronology content and

01

fluid aspirations natore, bangladesh

02

detroit reparations michigan, united states

06

07

confluence

03

natore, bangladesh

08

oneness

04

05

dinajpur, bangladesh

jhenaidah, bangladesh

research + engagement misc. locations

cartography misc. locations

teaching

09

thresholds dhaka, bangladesh

alleviation

10

dhaka, bangladesh

miscellaneous misc. locations

01 aspirations graduate thesis

What aspirations inform the development of secondary urban centers of the developing world- at the intersection of geography, governance, power and polity?

The

Much like other economically developing

Secondary

nations, Bangladesh has also been racing to

City

drive urbanism away from its major citiesprompting a series of decentralization intiatives.

These moves often invite the overlap between urbanity and unique geographic territoriesthreatening the latter.

One such condition is found in the largest marshy depression of the country where a municipality is fast developing, in spite of its population beginning to plateau.

Singra Municipality is not only contending with the consequences of its concretizing model of urbanism- best encountered in the erratic behavior of its many receding water bodies.

Furthermore, it must now determine what models and mechanisms of development it will adopt for its future- in the face of a population soon to decline, and a climate that is fast deteriorating.

Water Index

A Fluid Landscape

Fluidity (and water) manifests in various ways in Bangladesh- from coastal surges and

summer

seven hundred rivers forming the backbone of the land, to the vast expanses of marshy depressions that inform sensitive cycles of submersion and subsidence.

This is a study of the largest wetland of Bangladesh

monsoon

autumn

River Network of Bangladesh

late autumn

winter

NDWI Map of Western Bangladesh showing Singra.

spring

water as everyday

water as ritual

water as synthetic

a semi-permanent coexistence

absorbing contextual abundance of

an imposition of permanence in a

with the land, informed by cyclic

water into culture and faith. Using

fluid landscape of impermanence-

transformations in materiality,

water as a purifying medium as well

inviting negligence, othering and

occupation and ways of life.

as a metaphysical contained for

ultimately, killing the water.

renewal.

মাছ মা াছ িব িবে বে তা তা fisherman We say the Beel (Marsh) is our pride, and we market our fish claiming it is from these aquatic landscapes.

In reality, fishery has radically shifted to cultures within ponds in the city and the once famous fish from the Cholon Beel and the Atrai River is all but gone!

You want reform? Start there.

কাউ কা াউি উি লর লর councilor The children in my ward are faced with daily challenges to cross the river (and canal) to reach school. This is further worsened with seasonal waterlogging which spreads pollutants, deterring school going children.

I have been advocating for a bridge to improve connectivity for our children but..

To no avail.

শ্রীকা শ্রীক কান্ত ান্ত trader The Hindu Community of Singra has a long standing tradition of engaging with craftsparticularly terracotta tiles.

These are now cheaper to import from factories than to buy from local artisans.

The craft is all but dead.

A School of Life

A councilor’s plea for a bridge revealed broader issues of access to education in flood-prone areas. A new cooperative responds with floating, modular classrooms offering daycare to vocational training within the city’s aquatic landscape.

Monsoon

A Floating Elementary School runs year round with sessions beginning in Monsoon. Children gain awareness on hydrology while learning on classrooms on the river. This is complemented by water cleanup activtiies, stewardship roles and awareness campaigns

Late Autumn

As early as October, receding water nudges floating modules deeper into the river. New modules arrive from canals already running dry. Additional after school programs tutor adolescent learners preparing for National Board Examinations.

Spring

On the newly emerged banks, additional modules host a seasonal vocational school. Programs are intended for married women interested in acquiring new skills and workshops for unemployed youth. Daycare and elementary school continues.

The Earthen Commons

Once sustained by crafting terracotta tiles from post-monsoon soil, Singra’s earthen traditions are fading. The Earthen Commons revives this land-based craft through a community cooperative and center, reconnecting people with the marshy terrain they shaped.

Monsoon

Full-scale terracotta production reduces significantly. The craft center becomes a training center for the artform of terracotta.

The co-operative shares its findings and recommendations on soil quality, pollution and encroachment.

Late Autumn

As the water recedes quickly from the marsh, craftspersons and fishermen begin collecting nutrient-rich topsoil from the freshly drained land. Another group documents the quality of soil.

Spring

The Earthen Commons hosts an annual festival where various terracotta crafts are sold in temporary stalls situated in the receding banks of the river. These stalls are an invitation to celebrate this ancient craft, prompting awareness of the threats posed to it. As water returns, the stalls recede, celebrating temporality.

02 reparation graduate

The University of Michigan’s Center for Innovation (UMCI) is a proposal in the heart of downtown Detroit that envisions the University’s mandate to drive innovation in technology. However, in the absence of acknowledging legacies of socio-spatial inequalities that have been prevalent in the city, it is prone to perpetrating the same harms as past endeavors in the city such as freeways ripping through African-American neighborhoods.

Counter

This project posits the UMCI as an act of

Premise

dispersion- of functions, that also allow opportunities and resources to percolate beyond the downtown district and into neighborhoods that have little to no access to them.

This is done through distributing proposed training, experimental and educational functions throughout downtown and adding mixed-use, housing-oriented spaces into the scope of the project.

In the third tier, the UMCI morphs into a campus more than a concept- one that can be interacted with through a series of prototypical neighborhood spaces that allow the UMCI to become an instrument of repair embedded into communities that still contend with historic traces of disinvestment.

context map 2.5 mi

income education redlining districts

Innovation without Repair In the same manner as highways that once ripped through neighborhoods, innovation without repair is likely to repeat historic socio-spatial harms

Dispersing the

In acknowledging the inevitability of the UMCI

UMCI Campus

campus, this project addresses its program instead and proposes additional functions and amenities that disperse the campus from one concentrated building to a series of spaces that disperse throughout downtown Detroit and finally, into surrounding neighborhoods.

Neighborhood Functions

Excerpts from the project illustrated here outline the neighborhood spaces introduced as a satellite to the UMCI. This includes urban gardens that double as cafes for neighborhoods to convene.

In revisiting the notion of the cyber cafeneighborhood kiosks for reading- powered by the University of Michigan Library resourcescreate more effective interfaces with the university and its mandate for innovation.

Through neighborhood + technology connectivity models, these spaces prototypical

Urban Gardens +

and minimal spaces are meant to disperse

Neighborhood

innovation into neighborhoods most affected

Cafes, Detroit

by socio-spatial inequalities.

Dispersing the UMCI Begins with server spaces extending beyond the currently proposed campusgrowing into ancillary structures and neighborhood cafes.

03 confluence professional

The largest delta in the world, Bangladesh is a landscape written in water; defined by a rich spectrum of wetness. In its largest wetland, a silent crisis is slowly altering a palette of streams, rivers, and marshes. Urban aspirations have inspired infrastructural projects rooted in permanence; often at odds with the landscape.

Premise

The municipality of Singra lies in Cholon Beel, the largest wetland of Bangladesh. In 2016, the city initiated a ‘Canal Development Project’- a waterfront public space that revived the central canal of the city.

From

However, an unrealistic design scheme, coupled

Development

with budget exceedance soon ran the project

to Re-

to ground. Soon after, the site was abandoned,

Development

rendering it into central dumpyard of the city.

In 2021, Urban Core was invited to resume the project, working with the concrete structures that had already been cast on site and introducing porosity, vegetation and publicfacing spatial interfaces in the spaces that were yet to be concretized.

Co-Creation

The project foregrounded life in the deltathrough selection of trees, wall murals, material porosity, and level changes- all determined through extensive public consultation, coproduction of space and repeated verification with all concerned stakeholders.

Initial Site Conditions

Improvised Street Life

People Know

The site presented a ruin; with

Informal vendors had taken up the

The entire design process was

incomplete concrete walls from the

interface between the street and the

repeatedly informed by engagement

original design framing a dumpyard.

abandoned canal- we decided it was

with the citizens of Singra.

imperative to retain them.

Delta Promenade The project envisioned the completion of the abandoned waterfront promenade and in doing so, enable the revival of the city’s connection to its central canal and therefore, to water.

The Site As Encountered

The Site As Designed

We encountered a site that had an abandoned, concrete-

At the end of the project, the central canal had been cleaned

heavy project that had been paused; making way for waste

up, new trees were planets, porous surfaces were introduced

dumping, pollution and crime.

and the city had co-produced its central promenade.

A Place for All The completion of the project led to the production of a public space that was open to all. Through porous surfaces, shaded niches, informal nodes of engagement and vegetated pockets, the project has activated the central spine of the city.

04 oneness professional

Bending herringbone paths trace the entry to a remote village nestled in thick canopy-

surrounding fabric

situated in the middle of nowhere. It is here that the Santal community has built a century-old home for themselves and now aspire to erect a permanent chapel to facilitate worship as well as congregation. neighboring verancular precedent

Context

The Santals of Northern Bangladesh are an indigenous community prevalent in the larger region. A century ago, British Colonial rule relocated them to their current habitat; as railway construction labors. Despite growing

first phase design idea

into village majorities, labels of social inferiority from neighboring communities as well as institutions remain till today.

The need for a community chapel building became an opportunity to support their ongoing struggle for identity and co-existence with their non-indigenous neighbors. At

second phase design idea

the same time, it presented an invitation to generate circumstances of gathering within the community through the generation of semiopen spaces with plural connotations of use.

Program

Congregation Hall Preparation Space Public Toilet Study Room Open Community Plinth

third phase design idea

context

materiality

adjacencies

site plan 200’

site

community consultation

co-designing on site

Oneness An Earthen Community Chapel

community balcony prayer hall a

site plan

a’ 15’

priest’s study earthen wall

spire angled roof section aa’ depressed hall

15’

hall \ congregation

plinth \ community

landmark \ village

05 thresholds

undergraduate thesis

Point Landscape Furniture Fixture

Thresholds in Dhaka’s built fabric separate binaries such as private-public and formalinformal actors. This thesis explores thresholds and the life that evolves around them. By examining these boundaries at three scales, notional interventions are suggested to provoke discourse on urban spatial thresholds.

Line Terrain Elevation Surface

Point

Suggestive, undefined points in a space can create divisions by setting criteria between two seemingly homogeneous areas. In public spaces, this is achieved through urban furniture,

Line Wall Door Curb

fixtures, or natural elements like vegetation.

Line

Linear thresholds, often walls, define clear lines of separation but can also appear as doorways or curbs.

Plane

Planar thresholds add a third, liminal space, creating a more gradual transition between two areas compared to linear thresholds.

Volume

Volumetric thresholds, commonly found between indoor-outdoor or private-public spaces, add a further layer of transition by introducing intermediate volumes.

Plane Path Volume Scale Balcony

water node

staggered street

raised plinth

gateway

water station

boundary wall

shop front

corner recess

Informality Along

Location +

Thresholds

Structure

Permanent

stationary

Vendors

at single site

Lot Boundary

+

Sidewalk

permanent

Empty Lot

structure

Semi Permanent

temporary

Vendors

at single site

Lot Boundary

+

Sidewalk

removable

Curb

structure

Semi-Mobile

moving

Vendors

between sites

Sidewalk

+

Public Place Node

light mobile structure

Road

constant Mobile

motion

Vendors

+

Sidewalk

light mobile

Road

structure

Thresholds in a Public Place

a walled off cemetery

gateway to a monument

separated by a fence

breached to create

plurality of space

site plan

a park in a

625’

cemetery

Negotiating Thresholds

01

02

03

04

Intervention

Volume as

The vision of the city authorities to

Threshold

complement the spirit of the monument and

Site Plan Legend

01. Graveyard (existing) 02. Mosque (existing + expansion)

retain the sanctity of the cemetery with a

03. Museum (existing + expansion)

museum and library, are in direct conflict with

04. Martyred Intellectuals’ Monument (existing)

people’s need for recreational spaces. These

05. Library (proposed)

considerations informed a design intervention

06. Nursery (redesigned)

that caters to both the intended and actual

07. Promenade (proposed)

uses of this space.

site plan 400’ 05

06

07

section aa’ 800’

Library as Remembrance

section aa’ 50’

admin the library of courtyard

remembrance is an invitation to resume intellectual practices as the backbone of nation

stack area

building practices

reading rooms

that were deliberately vanquished at this very site at

ramp to

the dawn of the

monument

nation’s birth.

public courtyard

library @ - 15’0” 70’

06 alleviation undergraduate

Alleviation inquires how larger socio-cultural statistics often misrepresent disadvantaged groups and how introduction of new spaces can empower the under-represented.

One Inauguration

“our families are not sure what happens here.”

Two Admission

Jhenaidah Municipality in Bangladesh has a

Three

Misleading

literacy rate higher than the national average,

Daycare

Statistics

though female literacy, especially among adult

Education

“attending training will lead to neglecting the

“a daycare would help look after the children.”

women, remains low due to early marriage and education discontinuation.

Vocation

Public consultations reveal that most married

Instead of

women with incomplete degrees seek

Schooling

empowerment through vocational skills. By

Four

attending hands-on training, they hope to

Recreation

“can their father also engage with this space?”

gain skills in crafts and other practical areas, contributing to family income and amplifying their household voice.

A Space That Empowers

To support this, a new space was needed to facilitate vocational training. This training would engage all household members, fostering sustained acceptance and support.

Five Civic Space

“if only this was a space for the whole family”

Adult cannot attend training with household chores and young children at

Adolescent vocational training is required alongside school for empowerment

Infant it takes over 30 minutes to walk to school and the route is not suitable for site plan 300’

Intervention The intervention, one of three for infants, adolescent, and adult women, is planned along the city’s receding central riverbank, celebrating women, empowerment, and water as a connecting element for these learning centers.

Training Center for Married Women section aa’ public space

20’ recreation

classroom

spaces at street level above welcome the entire family into the complex

site plan healthcare workshop

40’ workshop

classroom daycare amphitheater

spaces blend into the river allowing outdoor activities while ensuring privacy when required

07 green over grey research

Regional Transect

Natural Land

As aging grey infrastructure begin to fail at unprecedented rates in the face of frequent extreme wet weather events, Southeast

Rural Land

Michigan experiences an unequally distributed landscape of stormwater-borne hardships.

Open Space

Low Intensity Residential

Nature

In light of this crisis, nature-based solutions

Based

offer an alternative to aging infrastructure. They

Solutions

Mid Intensity Residential

are more cost-effective than infrastructural upgradation, and premised around a larger spectrum of co-benefits than other green infrastructure approaches (green stormwater

High Intensity Residential

infrastructure and low impact development in the United States).

Methods

This regional planning study, undertaken by a

Light Industry

multi-discplinary team foregrounds fish and wildlife considerations and adopts a method that simultaneously considers ecologies, communities, land-use, financing, and

Downtown

stormwater modelling.

Planning

The output from this study comprises of a

Tools

regional transect, fish and wildlife planning

Infrastructure

cards, nature-based solutions cards and a regional actor network among others. These are tailored to support NBS design endeavors in the region.

Waterfront

Phasing Study: Implementing Nature Based Solutions

Phase I Initial Condition

Nature Takes Time

Nature-based Solutions are often depicted as finished products; pristine end results that obscure the processes and stakeholders involved in the implementation of green infrastructure.

Through a series of phasing studies, this project spotlights the key phases during NbS implementation, including processes

Phase II Land Assembly + Excavation

that often take years. This includes land assembly, de-paving, excavations, planting (and waiting for vegetation to mature), initial maintenance activities and routine operation and maintenance schemes.

These processes are not only timeintensive. They are also components of NbS implementation that require a spectrum of stakeholder engagement, community stewardship models, and continued

Phase III

engagement with the localities of NbS

Planting + Daylighting

implementation.

+ De-Paving

Legend 1. Depressed playing field serves as temporary stormwater detention basin 2. New neighborhood park with vegetation and trails.

3. Daylighted buried stream 4. Bioswale at industrial park for runoff filtration 5. Neighborhood de-paving of abandoned alleyways 6. Missing-middle housing in vacant lots 7. Urban farming in vacant lots.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

Fish + Wildlife Planning Cards A set of fish and wildlife planning cards spotlight priority species in the Southeast Michigan region.

These cards are intended to depict each species as members of larger ecosystems through trophic relationships, ideal and adapted habitats, nesting and breeding areas, and conservations status.

The cards also outline ideal habitat conditions for each species and design considerations to foster habitats as part of any nature-based solutions.

Nature Based Solutions Cards

NBS Type

NBS Benefits

Prototypical Isometric Illustration

Potential Locations Suitable for NBS Type

Storage / Conveyance

Storage / Conveyance

Typologies Design Considerations

Maintenance

Other NBS Cards

Built Examples Environmental Socio-Cultural Economic Benefits

07 property ecologies research

Brief

Property Ecologies traces the evolution of property practices in Houston Texas. The research, illustrated through models and drawings, was exhibited in ‘Big, Hot, Sticky’ hosted by the Architecture Center Houston in June 2024.

Karankawa 500 CE

The Karankawa People of Galveston Bay moved seasonally to gather food. They practiced

Severance 1919 CE

The Law of Relinquishment allowed Texan landowners to separate surface and mineral

resource-sharing without property boundaries.

rights, in response to the rush for mining oil.

Despite initial cooperation with settlers, conflict

Earlier laws had granted mineral rights to

over land led to their near extinction by the

landowners, later refined to enable leasing and

1820s, marking the beginning of static property

sales of mineral-rich estates.

practices in the region.

Subdivision Land Grants 1823 CE

From 1823, land grants facilitated the

1920 CE

As the single family home gained mass popularity, subdivisions further introduced

settlement of Texas, with ranchers and farmers

new property conventions in Texas. An almost

receiving expansive plots for agriculture.

synthetic landscape comprising extensive

Stephen F. Austin led 300 families. Mexican

levees imposed homogeneous housing

restrictions on emigration fueled Texas’

schemes onto a variety of contexts.

eventual annexation in 1845.

Wind Energy

Texas’ 1999 Renewable Portfolio Standard

1999 CE

sparked its wind energy industry, making it

Plantation

As plantations expanded in Texas, slavery

1830 CE

grew. Settler estates quickly expanded into

the U.S. leader by 2006. Recent debates on

vast plantations to form new property fabrics

wind estate severance, akin to mineral rights,

predominantly cultivating sugar and cotton.

culminated in a 2023 court ruling permitting

Earlier laws had granted mineral rights to

wind rights separation.

landowners, later refined to enable leasing and sales of mineral-rich estates.

Indigenous

Land Grants

Plantation

Severance

Subdivision

Energy

07 public design corps engagement

Premise

An urban renewal project in the South of São Paulo threatens entire communities facing imminent displacement. As part of the University of Michigan’s Public Design Corps, students collaborated with ongoing efforts of local community partners to complement their struggles and resistances in the face of this forthcoming disruption in the fabric of the city.

One

Students begin by collecting and unpacking

Unpacking

official documents, maps, proposals and laws that help better understand but also illustrate for local stakeholders, the consequences of the PIU Arco Jurubatuba, a 2014 urban renewal proposal in the South of the city.

Two Fieldwork

Once in São Paulo, students verify government data with ground realities to provide local communities with updated maps and statistical data. Scoping, field observation and community consultation further illustrate present conditions as a parallel to the project proposal

Three

Students help local partners organize

Sharing

a community gathering event. Multiple communities come together to share mutual struggles and technical persons and stakeholders provide updates on various actions of resistance. The gathering ends with a co-produced manifesto and students return from São Paulo to create open source platforms for disseminating updated maps and data for all.

field visits -

01. urban renewal

engaging the community

02. countermapping

03. grounding realities

setting up a gathering

04. dissemination

08 projection as politics cartography

44° 20’ 48” N 85° 24’ 37” W NAD 1983 StatePlane Michigan Central FIPS 2112

Maps Are Never Neutral

Maps have never been neutral tools. The Mercator projection famously inflated northern and southern landmasses while compressing the equatorial belt, rendering colonized countries visually smaller and politically diminished. Greenland appeared the size of Africa, despite being fourteen times smaller; visual distortion reinforced geopolitical hierarchies.

Trade-Offs In Projection

Every projection is a compromise. The Gall–Peters preserves relative land area but elongates continents; the Mollweide balances area with a pleasing oval form yet distorts shapes; Buckminster Fuller’s Dymaxion interrupts continuity to minimize distortion but sacrifices intuitive geography. Each is a negotiation among land area, proportion, and the perceived distances between places.

A Granular

At the city scale, projection choice becomes

Consequence

even more consequential. Chicago aligns best

WGS 1984 Web Mercator

with Illinois State Plane East; switching to

NAD 1927 Illinois West FIPS 1202

Illinois West, Michigan South, or Indiana West

NAD 1927 Illinois East FIPS 1201 NAD 1927 Indiana West FIPS 1302

introduces small but measurable shifts. Apply global projections like Mercator or Cylindrical

chicago, il

Equidistant, and distortions become significant, undermining precision mapping.

NAD 1983 Michigan South FIPS 2113 Equidistant Cylindrical Cylindrical Equal Area

10 mi

Mercator Gall Peters Cylindrical Equal Area Mollweide Sinusoidal

projection as politics 5,000 mi

Goode Homolosine Winkel Tripel Polyconic Berghaus Star AAG Adams Square II Fuller

08 red remnants cartography

42° 38’ 46” N 83° 17’ 33” W NAD 1983 StatePlane Michigan South FIPS 2113

redlining Redlining

In the mid-20th century, Pontiac, Michigan, was subject to redlining; a discriminatory housing policy where banks and federal agencies

& african american population

marked predominantly Black neighborhoods as high-risk for investment. These redlined zones were systematically denied mortgages

2 mi

and insurance, inhibiting homeownership, neighborhood stability, and generational wealth among residents of color.

Enduring Scars

Though redlining was outlawed in 1968, its spatial scars remain visible. Pontiac’s formerly redlined areas still suffer from underinvestment, lower property values, and aging infrastructure.

These zones often overlap with today’s census tracts that exhibit higher poverty rates and lower median household incomes, underscoring the enduring legacy of racialized disinvestment.

Pontiac

Pontiac’s current median household income

Today

is significantly below the state average, and

& african

its demographic is majority Black and Latino.

american

This correlation between past exclusionary

population

income

policies and present socioeconomic conditions illustrates how structural racism continues to shape urban outcomes across generations.

2 mi

red remnants 1 mi a b c d o redlining districts

75K 12K median income = 2 persons african american

08 dhaka in anatomy cartography

23° 45’ 52” N

ancient fort

90° 23’ 20” E Gulshan 303 Bangladesh Transverse Mercator

enclave

Riverine Inceptions

Dhaka is shaped by centuries of geographic and political shifts. Its history precedes Mughal riverine outposts with shophouses and bazaars. British rule exapnded the city with rail

regimental 1750’

lines and maidans, then embraced Modernist planning as East Pakistan’s capital. After 1971, as Bangladesh’s capital, rapid urbanization followed, with private housing markets filling floodplains and transforming Dhaka into a dense, concrete expanse.

Urban

This history created diverse urban fabrics:

Form

Mughal shophouses and Islamic public

riverfront

gardens, colonial-era regimental housing blocks, and post-independence model towns racing to facilitate an exponential population

campus

boom. Informal districts emerged as a parallel, revealing persistent inequalities. Today’s urban form is, however, increasingly static; trading communal intimacy for regularized isolation.

Future Trajectories

Despite this, sites like the Parliament complex

institution

stand as pauses amid relentless growth. As Dhaka’s population surges and history is paved over, the future demands preservation, reform, and creative reuse to ensure the city remains livable and historically legible.

threshold 1750’

the evolution of dhaka 1600

1750

1850

1960

1980 8 mi

1990

2002

2017

08 after the line cartography

23° 10’ 15” N 89° 12’ 0” E WGS 1984 Web Mercator (Auxiliary Sphere)

Colonial Conclusions

Partition marked the violent culmination of British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent in 1947. After nearly two centuries of extraction and control, the British exit strategy sought to create two sovereign nations, India and Pakistan, divided largely along religious lines.

In Bengal, a province with a deeply entangled Hindu-Muslim population, this division proved especially catastrophic

Radcliffe

Drawn in just five weeks by Sir Cyril Radcliffe,

Line

a British lawyer unfamiliar with the region, the boundary line split Bengal into East Pakistan and West Bengal. The process disregarded cultural, economic, and ecological continuities, using outdated maps and hasty census data.

The line cut through homes, communities, rivers, and forests with surgical indifference.

Violence,

In Bengal, Partition displaced millions. Violence

Exchange,

erupted in both rural villages and urban centers

Aftermath

like Calcutta and Dhaka. Families abandoned land overnight, sometimes exchanging properties informally across borders. Entire communities vanished, and many who stayed became minorities overnight—marked, mistrusted, and often persecuted.

09 design one

Lines from Nature

teaching

Anika Tabassum Biva

Project

Introduction to Design is a student’s first

Brief

exposure to Architecture through a series of design exercises. Students explore compositions with basic elements, such as lines, planes and volumes. The studio starts with a 2D exercise with lines and concludes with a 3D dimensional Abstraction of a Film.

In the process, students explore a series of

Rafiya Nusrat Moushe

media from graphite to sculpting with found materials. In addition, they are also introduced to precedents in Architecture and asked to analyze and formulate abstractions of them using the fundamental elements of design previously learned.

Learning Outcomes

Express different concepts and design ideas in graphical format Identify the different characteristics of basic

Fatema Nusrat Raisa

design elements such as lines, primary shapes and forms Apply the aesthetic principles of basic design to create various compositions Improve analytical and innovative thinking ability Develop the skills of using different media (digital and others, whenever possible) to show both two and three-dimensional expressions of basic design compositions.

Abir Hossain

Composition

Low Relief

with Shapes

Fatema Nusrat Raisa

Shafiqa Anjum Autoshi

Faiza Jabin

Yashfia Sadaf

Jannatul Ferdouse Sinthya

Israt Rahman Sinthee

09 school of architecture teaching

Project Brief

The Design of an Architecture School is premised around hands-on training and requires a proposal that facilitates architectural pedagogy at the intersection of science and the arts. Through the careful organization of modular learning spaces and supporting functions, students are required to envision a campus that stages an atmosphere of learning and reflection in various modalities.

Special attention is desired towards spaces of informal encounters, congregation, conversation and ultimately, reflection in an educational complex that fosters a deeper appreciation for the built environment.

Learning Outcomes

Learn about organizing multiple modular functions of a school into a unified whole.

site plan 300’

Site

challenges students to create a sanctuary of

Demonstrate understanding of relationship

learning at the heart of urban congestion and

between space requirements, circulation, basic

chaos.

structural system and site surroundings and develop formal expression of functions.

Develop understanding on how the essence of a program guides to develop uniqueness in design.

Respond to site forces and address the challenges of site constraints through design.

Nestled in a compact urban setting, the site

Student Work

Kafil Uddin > Massing + Form Generation Axonometric Site View

Massing

Zoning

Tilt

Access

Roof

Complex

09 expansion of teacher student center teaching

Project

The Teacher-Student Center (TSC) of Since

Brief

its design by Greek architect Doxiadis in 1960, this landmark has outgrown its capacity and is in need of expansion to offer expanded and upgraded facilities. Students are required to design an expansion to the TSC, addressing a complex set of programs. Special emphasis is desired on a strong conceptual approach and professional-level design quality

Learning Outcomes

Study and Analyze existing precedents in order to formulate strategies for expansion Conceptualize and express design ideas Identify and articulate different design considerations: formal, functional and structural Formulate design solutions based on both technical and socio-cultural contexts Generate architectural and technical drawings equivalent to construction working drawings.

Site Image

Existing complex with potential expansion site > Source: Nakib Shah Alam

Student Work

Ashfak Ullah Chowdhury >> Campus Aerial Perspective

10 receding commons miscellaneous

Thresholds Original Design 1960 Parliament >

Original Design Instruments of Democracy

Guest Lecture Taubman College of Architecture

1960 Walkway >

and Urban Planning, University of Michigan Course: Politics of Balance, Fall 2024 Instructor: Ana Morcillo Pallares October 22, 2024 A Alfred Taubman Commons, University of Michigan Modification

Brief

The lecture examines the National Parliament

2002

Building of Bangladesh, designed by Architect

South Plaza >

Louis Kahn. Tracing the historic development of the complex as a parallel to the birth of the nation is followed by an examination of spatial exclusion as a mechanism to hinder democratic practices. Finally, the uprising of Monsoon 2024 and the resultant events that unfolded in the premises of the Jatiyo Shangshad Bhaban also illustrate the futility of such exclusionary practices. The lecture was followed by an

Modification

engaging discussion further unpacking the

2014

intersection of politics and design.

South Plaza >

10 impressions miscellaneous

^ Volume Ahmedabad, India (2019) Staging > Dhaka, Bangladesh (2019)

1 1 acknowledgment project

Fluid Aspirations 2024 graduate

Master of Urban Design, University of Michigan Graduate Thesis. Duration: 16 Weeks In Singra, Bangladesh.

Oneness 2023 professional

Associate Consultant, Urban CoRe In Dinajpur, Bangladesh. Duration: 9 Weeks Design Team: Huraera Jabeen (Principal

Advisors: María Arquero de Alarcón,

Architect)

Jessica Fayne, PhD

Commission: St. Francis of Assisi + Fr. Michel

Gratitude: Huraera Jabeen, PhD, Singra

Tigga

Municipality, Binayak Chakraborty, Srikanta

Contribution: Scoping and User Consultation,

Acharya

Material Research, Program + Design Development

Repair

Master of Urban Design, University of Michigan

2024

Urban Design Studio. Duration: 16 Weeks

graduate

In Detroit, Michigan, United States Instructors: Cyrus Penarroyo Collaborators: Cameron Blakely, Akshita

Status: Awaiting Construction Threshold 2020 undergraduate

Bachelor of Architecture, BRAC University Year Four Level One. Duration: 12 Weeks In Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Mandhyan

Instructors: Prof. Fuad Hassan Mallick, Iftekhar

Generative AI Acknowledgement: Spatial

Ahmed, PhD, Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Abul Fazal

visualization collages produced AI-generated

Mahmudun Nabi, Mohammad Zillur Rahman

assets using Midjourney AI through written

Gratitude: Huraera Jabeen, PhD, Rahul Mehrotra

prompts and reference images.

Alleviation Confluence

Associate Consultant, Urban CoRe

2018

Year Four Level One. Duration: 12 Weeks

2021

In Natore, Bangladesh. Duration: 8 Weeks

professional

Design Team: Huraera Jabeen (Principal

Instructors: Huraera Jabeen, PhD, Khondaker

Architect)

Hasibul Kabir, Tasfin Aziz, Mohammad Zillur

Commission: Singra Municipality

Rahman

Contribution: Scoping and User Consultation,

Study Collaborators: Tanvir Islam, Sabrina Ritu

Material Research, Program + Design Development, Hands-On Construction Status: Completed

undergraduate

Bachelor of Architecture, BRAC University In Jhenaidah, Bangladesh.

Green Over

rvtr, University of Michigan

Property

Taubman College, University of Michigan

Grey

Duration: 10 Months

Ecologies

Exhibition: Big, Hot, Sticky by Maggie Tsang /

2025

Supervisors: Kathy Velikov (Co-PI), Maria Arquero

research

de Alarcón

2024 research

Rice Architecture Organizer: Architecture Center Houston

Funding Agency: National Fish and Wildlife

Research Team: Gabriel Cuéllar, Athar Mufreh,

Foundation (NFWF)

Saylor Allen

Project Team: University of Michigan (Glen

Contributions: Literature Review, Exhibition Text,

Daigger, Curt Wolf), Peter Adriaens, Nabilla

Illustration, Model Making

Maharani, Gustav Rohde), Michigan State University (Dana Infante, Justin Miller), Wayne State University (Carol Miller, Lara Treemore Spears)

Design One 2023 pedagogy

Department of Architecture, BRAC University Year One Level One. Co-Instructors: Zainab Faruqui Ali, Saima Sharmin, Doito Bonotulshi, Emmat Khanam

Peripheral Centralities 2024 graduate

Master of Urban Design, University of Michigan

Contributions as Lecturer: Theory Lecture,

Public Design Corps. Duration: 6 Weeks

Model Making Tutorial and Design Review

In São Paulo, Brazil Instructor: Maria Arquero de Alarcón Local Partners: UNIÃO, Centro Gaspar Garcia de Direitos Humanos, Defensoria Pública do Estado de São Paulo, Peabiru Trabalhos Comunitários

School of Architecture 2022 pedagogy

Department of Architecture, BRAC University Year Two Level Two. Duration: 5 Weeks Co-Instructors: Atiqur Rahman, S M Kaikobad, Gourab Kundu

e Ambientais, Articulação Vila Andrade,

Contributions as Lecturer: Design Theory

Comunidade Pantanal

Lecture, Demonstration and Review

Peers: Tabita Aitonean, Jasmine Paulk, Natalia Boldt, Mariam Reyes, Yi-Chien Kuo, Jess Chen,

Expansion

Stephanie Dutan, Yesha Malaviya, Akshita

2021

Mandhyan, Angie Perez, Chun Wang, Aaron

pedagogy

Department of Architecture, BRAC University Year Five Level One, Duration: 12 Weeks Co-Instructors: Prof. Fuad Hassan Mallick, PhD,

Johnson

Ehsan Khan, Mohammad Faruk, Naim Ahmed

Contribution: Public Consultation,

Kibria, Mohammad Habib Reza

Research, Graphic Production, Photography,

Contributions as Teaching Assistant: Instruction,

Documentation, Website Design.

Review and Project Documentation