At the turn of the millennium, we are undergoing a significant change defined by multiplicity, acceleration, diversity and ambiguity. Architecture theory and practice have been affected by technological and philosophical shift, particularly in two main areas; program and form. The extremely flexible nature of uses is challenging architects to shift from typological fixation to programmatic multiplicity. This is a one week idea project to work on some specific public buildings of Dhaka city which are significant for their particular program, contextual location etc. Ever evolving contextual changes demand enhancement of these public spaces in the city and these buildings hold the potential to offer certain positive changes in the urban life. The task was to explore possibilities of enhancing the public realm filled with transitional sequences of every imaginable kind; these might be achieved through addition, subtraction or bridging architectural elements/spaces to the existing buildings.

For rejuvenating the national museum let along Shahbag area; at first a study has been done on the timeline of the Shahbag area. The two factors of the timeline history caught my attention: Shahbag of the Mughul era when it was considered as a  beautiful Persian garden and the present day Shahbag which becomes a place for public protest against political oppression. Shahbag now is a place which holds many educational institutions and important govt. buildings; a place of youth, energy, culture and festivity.

The concept is to build a bridge between the present and the past    condition of Shahbag to rejuvenate the museum. The past is signified by garden and the present situation is represented through the fenestration of the facade of the museum.   The facade will host posters, artwork which will work as fuel to protest against the oppression.

The garden will flow through the ground floor of the museum. There will be a sunken plaza in the middle of it. The idea is to create an urban park including an open air art gallery where the artist will directly communicate with the public; exchanging their ideas and views. This will help to generate protest and help generalize people to show their stand against any political oppression.

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