Karim's Weekened Home

Project idea

HISTORY
Background history of this site guide us throughout the design process. This small rural settlement at Satkania, situated near by the Chittagong- Cox’s bazaar main connecting road is a little piece of heaven on earth which enriched with site surroundings, topography and natural beauties. Within this area, the stated site surrounds with lashes of green, farmlands, nearby small water bodies, semi-pacca roads etc. which flourished this site with a new arena. The land was a green vacant land which left empty through generations finally got the opportunities to get a shape of a structure for future generations.

ARCHITECTURAL CONCEPT
“UNITY OF SOUL” was the main theme of this mighty project. The concept was derived from emotion rather be rational. A long cherished dream of the client to bring her children to be united together under one roof. It is not just a vacation house for her children but a way of remembering and celebrating the family’s love, unity and affection.
Human being by nature unites with each other by their soul. This bonding of humans nourish with love, emotions, conversations, sharing and caring. In this busy techno world of us, we, people usually get a very less time for each other. Thus we are getting detached from our people, family and from the root. We are so much into making our life progressive which actually carried us far away from old sweet things. We are pulling ourselves away from our souls, our nature. Bonding among families becomes less which makes us apart from each other. All these thoughts, has driven my client Mrs. Shamsunnahar Karim, to think for a change which she wants to see within her lovable family. The desire was to create a space where she can find the peace of mind, the unity of soul.
For Mrs. Karim, the desired space was a place of her old memory. A place where she came as a bride got to know her life partner and started her new life. It was her late husband’s ROOT. A village away from the hustle and bustle of the port city of Chittagong with scenic beauty, very close to River Sangu. Char Khaguria, Mahajanpara, Dohazari is a village, where one can get some peace with the natural beauty and very friendly people surrounded. Mrs. Karim wanted to go back to that root, with her sons, daughter-in-laws and grandchildren. She wanted them to realize the bond between them, and the bond within the nature itself. A very simple idea of uniting her 6 children and families, having tea together, having a space to chat and look at the distant beauty. A place of her own NIRVANA.
During the making of this house, her middle son suddenly died in a very misfortunate fire. This made Mrs. Karim more devastated, wanting to live with her remaining children more. This space for the eldest son became a memory for her, where she would go to feel him, as he accompanied in every step of making this house, making her dream come true.
It is not just a vacation house for her children with separate rooms, living and garden. It is a way of remembering and celebrating the family’s love and affection. A house that belongs to them and they belong to every corner of the house.

Project description

SCOPE
Scope of working in this site was of full of opportunities. A structure located within green surroundings leaves much scope to invite the natural ample of light and wind as there is no high structure within surroundings, to create free flowing spaces, generate spaces for conversation, recreation, relaxation etc. the main scope was to explore how to break all rigidity and unite all spaces together to get peace of mind and soul.

Technical information

CONSTRUCTION
This project is actually a RCC frame structure. The main structural members are column, beam, slab etc. Foundation of the project is normal spread footing. In this project we have selected the local labor based technology to maximize opportunities for the employment of labor while supported by light equipment, under strict conditions of cost competitiveness, acceptable engineering quality standards, and timely implementation. Mainly mixer machine, vibration machine is used for RCC works.

MATERIALS
Bricks, bricks chips , lime, cement, surki, sand, steel, ferrous timber, timber products, aluminums, bamboos, glass, plastics, paints, varnishes, rubber, tiles, granite, marble, etc are used in this project which are all local products.

SERVICES
Architectural Design
Structural Design
Electrical Design and plumbing services
Landscape Design etc.

FINANCE
The Client Mrs. Shamsunnahar Karim, herself commissioned the project and finances the whole.

COST
As a whole it took around 90 lac plus to complete the entire structure with all finishes.

CONSTRAINTS
Though it was a wonderful experience to work on such precious projects, there were some constraints and limitations as well. Due to the long distance location of this site from main city, it was a little bit challenging task regarding transportation, communication and lack of electricity.

SOLUTIONS
All these above mentioned limitations were successfully overcome due to proper scheduling & order of works, good communication with all the contractors and seamless co operation from clients and every personnel who engaged with this project.