Gunami Research Center

American University of Sharjah, College of Architecture, art and Design, Sharjah

Project idea

With the regular flooding of areas in Bangladesh, students have been missing valuable education opportunities. As new schools are built, they are directly confronted with the monsoon and flooding seasons,leaving permanent damage. Not only is the flooding affecting students, it is also harming the farmers and fisherman residing in the region. Agriculture and aquaculture account for 50% of the region’s economy and are damaged often due to the flooding. Many people lose their homes, jobs, and harvests and therefore are subjected to lower incomes and living conditions. This proposal explores modern solutions that would embrace the flooding environment through structural and programmatic means along the Gumani river. The project focuses on three primary concerns: education, agriculture,and aquaculture. Moreover, it intends to create a community that would become self-sufficient, educational, and sustainable.

Project description

We intend to use the bamboo forest as a catalyst to address certain issues that present themselves within the project such as: education, aquaculture, and agriculture. By controlling privacy, light , spatial articulation and providing natural interaction within cultural demographics. The boundaries between nature and the built form would become more porous. Allowing the bamboo forest to not only encompass the project but also weave in and out of the project. Hence integrating the landscape with the architecture.

The most pressing issues that we faced was how to combat the extreme flooding conditions within the site. Our initial thought was to elevate the project above the 500 year water level. In order to deal with the interaction between the ground and the water , we allowed water by creating a sloped plane as well as introducing a canal. The dock was the final element in contact with the water that was devised using recycled oil drums which allows it to float.

The use of open courtyards allow the bamboo forest to extend up into the spaces, where the slanted roofs help direct the majority light. Formulating the focal point of each space. Which can be seen in the renders to provide the majority of light. As for the facades of the building, we applied a combination of louvers and woven panels that help filtrate the sunlight, as well as articulate the zones of the spaces.

Technical information

The bamboo is an essential material member in Bangladesh construction. It’s light aesthetic accompanied with its durable and resilient characteristics, compliment each other beautifully to form structure. By further exploring the flexibility properties of bamboo, one can start to reinvent the rigid association of a boundary of the space being demarcated by walls. Instead the bamboo would start to encompass a space, Offering the opportunity to control the porosity of the redefined boundary of a space. Furthermore, the bamboo members can be assembled in sparse and dense proximity to one another, to distinguish privacy.