|Text from the architect|

General info:

The building is situated in a hilly area of Shahbazpur of  Moulvibazar district. The elevation of the site is above 20’-0” from the existing road level. As the site is situated in between contour, the building placed parallel to the contour to avail maximum use of land. For the hilly topography it is a common fact of this region that almost every households are Isolated Cluster type with a long approach road from the inter-district road . This project was designed considering this very fact. It is the village home of Mr. Tabarak Hussain.

Zoning:

The overall zoning is arranged around a courtyard-like family gathering space inspired from the settlement pattern in rural areas of Sylhet.

Description :

It’s a single family residence in duplex formation.

This building consists of 4 bed rooms with attached toilets, a living space, a dining space, kitchen with verandah and store. There is also a family lounge which  is situated at the center of the house in a double heighted space. This double heighted space resembles as a traditional courtyard. All spaces are well ventilated and having adequate natural light.

Construction method & Materials:

By nature of construction it can be considered as a composite type of building where concrete, brick, wood, bamboo, glass and corrugated sheet etc. are used as building materials. Mainly the facades are brick facing and at the top corrugated sheet is used for roofing.

Conventional construction method is applied in this project, that means, the structure comprises of post and lintel system where brick used as infill materials.

Bamboo-made false ceiling and red colored neat cement finish were used

Ventilation:

North-south oriented ventilation system is applied.

Special Feature:

To save the brick faced walls from rain the slab, lintel and seal are extended towards outside.

Architectural report:

• In this design, the various parts of a traditional courtyard house are represented by each section of the interior space.

• This split of levels is designed to represent the two sections of a courtyard house; an exterior part termed as “Baithok-khana”(public zone) and an interior part termed as “Andar-mahal” which also used to divided into 2 parts, semi-public and private. At the middle of that two section a double height space is created to represent the “Courtyard”. This double height space enhances the visual connection of the whole interior. Numbers of stair-ways has been introduced to connect different levels.

• The use of local materials (brick, concrete, wood, bamboo, cane etc.) in various parts of the interior is an attempt to regenerate the building practice of our traditional culture.

• One of the important things is, the project is done with higher simplicity considering the economic matter. This is done by the approach of construction and use of materials. Such as only 5 inch masonry wall with exposed brick (one side remain unflustered) used. Besides this, there is no application of special brick bonding which may increase the cost.

• No extra materials (tiles, marble or wood etc.) are used on the floor except red colored neat finish with white border which was able to harmonize with the simplistic approach.

• Typical post and lintel system was followed with presence of walls and slabs. The true expression of vertical and horizontal elements is the inspiring side of the whole project.

• The main intention was to avoid any presence of luxurious outlook or expression.

Constrains and solutions:

Scarcity of expert masons was a problem at the beginning. So we had to heir only two masons from outside Shahbazpur and surprisingly they had made it possible using a few numbers of extra labors occasionally.

Project Details at a glance: 

Residence of Mr. Tabarak  Hussain

Location: Vill: Nandua, P.O. East Shahbazpur, P.S. Borolekha, Dist: Moulvibazar, Bangladesh.

Land area: 9 Katha (6480 Sft.)

Total floor area: 4316 Sft

Construction cost: 40, 00,000.00 BDT (i.e. 927.00 BDT per Sft