Transforming a Non-place Through Architecture as Landscape Event: Design as Scholarship, Where the Process of Design is the Research Method

Abstract

The visual essay explains a design project through concept, material technology and artistic processes where a ‘non-place’ is transformed into a choreographed social space where the process of design is the research method involving culture, climate and ecology. The design approach pushes the boundary of the conventional through experimental material expressions within the challenge of limited budget to offer an ecologically sound meeting place for the people. A new topography is carved out of the flat land applying the age-old method of dig and mound which would breathe through the tapestry of perforated terracotta brick surfaces. Its presence continually varies with the presence and absence of elements of nature like water and earth, sunlight and shadows, temperature and rain. The flickers of light through the filigree of leaves and perforated metal shades and flow of wind over the watery surface all can recall a memory or collective memories, a deep sensory perception. Ever since it’s opening day to public, the place has been serving as one of the most vibrant public places of Dhaka city. The animated terrain, as it is perceived through its porous breathing body, has gone through seasonal transformations during the last five years. With its sunken open steps surrounding a reflecting water pool, an unique mixture of planted and organically grown trees and bushes, functional service zones carved out of a mound, the project blurs the boundary between landscape, ecology, archeology and architecture.