Jointly hosted by Department of Architecture, BRAC University and Open Studio (www.thisstudioisopen.org), the Congress aims to explore the particular condition of density in Dhaka which can be seen to transcend the “Culture of Congestion” Rem Koolhaas mentioned in Delirious New York . No longer can it be classified as an extension of the normal urban configuration and hence the Congress aims to capture this “Ultradense Urbanism”. The negative spaces produced in between the bodies, the architecture and the flows in the city mediates and configures from the erotic to the political, the two extremes of spatial agency. The ultradensity of Dhaka results in the narrowing of this void redefining the boundaries between the common political space and the intimate erotic one. This phenomenon of the packaging of the bodies, repeating with architecture in the urban fabric, exhibits the limits of human cohabitation. What are the new limits set forth in this massive packaging of bodies, materials and culture? Particular socio-economic factors produce, maintain and are simultaneously resultant of this ultradensity, all within a play of formal and informal mechanisms of control. This complex interplay requires unpacking and is a fertile ground for architectural exploration. For a future with increasing number of dense cities, unpacking Dhaka is going to provide a transcendent learning of this particular urban phenomenon.

Schedule:

June 4 – 5 _ Congress Symposium  ( Open for all , No registration is required)

June 6 – 8 _ Congress Design Workshop ( Only for BRACU . ARCH)

Symposium Schedule :

DAY 1: June 4th, 2017 SUNDAY

Opening Session

10:00 AM: Welcoming Note: Dr. Mohammad Faruk

10:10 AM: Congress Open and Speech: To Be Confirmed

10:30 AM: Introducing Congress: Tanzil Shafique

10:45 AM: Keynote Speech: Dr. Adnan Morshed

11:25 – 11:30 AM:  BREAK

Session 1: The Body in the Space

Moderator: Dr. Sajid-Bin-Doza

11:30 AM: Opening Remark by Moderator

11:35 AM: To Be Confirmed

12:00 PM: Dr. Javier Sanchez Merina: Bodies and Actions in Architecture

12:25 PM: Discussion + Questions

12:40 PM – 1:00 PM:  BREAK

Session 2: The Architecture in the Fabric

Moderator: Sujaul Khan

01:00 PM: Opening Remark by Moderator

01:05 PM: Architect Fawaz Rob: Understanding ergonomics and anthropometry of Dhaka and exploring its impact on improving architectural design

01:30 PM: Dr. Maria Luna Nobile: Living in the Ultradense City: The European Experience

01:55 PM: Dr. Ruben Garcia Rubio, Porous Density: Dubai as a case study

02:20 PM: Discussion + Questions

02:35 PM: Open the floor / Informal Meetings

DAY 2: June 5th, 2017 MONDAY

Session 3: The Movement in the City

Moderator: Dr. Mohammad Faruk

10:30 AM: Opening Remark by Moderator

10:35 AM: Dr. Shamsul Hoque: Community Facilities versus Traffic Congestion

11:00 AM: Dr. Akter Mahmud

11:25 AM: Discussion + Questions

11:40 PM – 11:50 PM: BREAK

Session 4: The Social and the Political

Moderator: Dr. Nandini Awal

11:50 AM: Opening Remark by Moderator

11:55 AM: Sujaul Khan, Preconditions for Ultra-Density

12:20 AM: Dr. Paco Mejias: The Fiction of the Equal: American City

12:45 PM: Discussion + Questions

01:00 PM – 01:30 PM: BREAK

Closing Session

2:00 PM Panel Discussion: Unpacking Dhaka

(panelists: Dr. Adnan Morshed, Marina Tabassum, Shamsul Wares, Kazi Khaleed Ashraf and panelists. Moderator: Tanzil Shafique)

2:30 PM Closing Speech: Shamsul Wares

3:00 PM Open to the Floor

(Audience Questions and Discussion)

Moderator: Dr. Adnan Morshed and Dr. Paco Mejias

CONTEXT Contributor : Farasha Zaman , Faculty member , Dept of Architecture , BRAC University