Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury was
born in Dhaka, the son of a civil engineer,
growing up in Bangladesh and the Middle East before
graduating in architecture from
the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in
1995. In 2006, he attended the Glenn Murcutt Masterclass in Sydney.
After working with architect
Uttam Kumar Saha, he established the practice URBANA in partnership in 1995 and
from 2004 has continued as the Principal of the firm. Chowdhury is married to
Rajrupa Chowdhury, an Indian classical musician of the instrument Sarod. They have a son, Rayan Mahboob Chowdhury.
Kashef Chowdhury has a studio
based practice whose works find root in history with strong emphasis on
climate, materials and context - both natural and human. Projects in the studio
are given extended time for research so as to reach a level of innovation and
original expression. Works range from conversion of ship and low cost raised
settlements in 'chars' to training centre, mosque, art gallery, museum,
residences and multi-family housing to corporate head offices.
Chowdhury has been a visiting
faculty at the North South University and BRAC University, both
in Bangladesh and has been a juror in final year crits in universities in
Dhaka. He was twice finalist in the Aga Khan Award for Architecture and
has won first prize in Architectural Review's AR+D Emerging Architecture Award
2012.
Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury takes
an active interest in art and in 2004 presented a lecture series 'Aspects of
Contemporary Art in Germany' at the Goethe Institut, Dhaka. He has worked as a
professional photographer and has held seven solo exhibitions. He has designed
and published three books: Around Dhaka, 2004; Plot Number Fifty Six, 2009 and
The Night of Fifteen November, 2011 - a photographic and recorded account of
some survivors of the Cyclone Sidr in
the coastal areas of Bangladesh.
Catherine Slessor and Rob Gregory,
writing in 'Emerging Architecture and Creative Resilience' (Architectural
Review, December 2012) notes: "In his studio, time is held in high regard,
so much so that until recently he deliberately resisted using any form of
artificial light, choosing instead to operate the business during daylight
hours. This was done to enforce a natural pattern to the working day, and to
encourage people not to work excessively long hours, and while changes to this
routine were perhaps inevitable, Chowdhury maintains his respect of time,
stating his desire to separate his studio from the influences of ‘the passing
world’ to avoid ‘rushing through the design process’, and to always remember
that ‘time is of the essence’. and
was nominated for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture 2010 for designing
the Chandgaon Mosque in Chittagong.
Architects :
Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury/URBANA
Location : Gaibandha, Bangladesh
Team : Anup Kumar Basak, Sharif Jahir
Hossain, Motiur Rahman,
Amrul Hasan
Area : 2897.0 sqm
Project Year : 2011
Bangladeshi
architect and URBANA founder Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury, the complex functions as
the centre for a charitable organisation. It offers training programmes for the
poorest individuals in Gaibandha, a town where most of the community are
employed in agriculture.
Friendship
uses the facility for its own training programs and will also rent out for
meetings, training, conferences etc. as income generation. Each
building within the complex is constructed from a uniform brickwork, creating a
maze of pavilion-like structures. Each block has the same height and every
rooftop is covered with grass. Structural elements are of reinforced
concrete and finishes also include timber and stone. The naturally ventilated
structures have green roofs. Rainwater and surface run-off are collected in
internal pools and the excess is pumped to an excavated pond, also to be used
for fishery.
"In
the extreme limitation of means was a search for the luxury of light and
shadows, of the economy and generosity of small spaces and of the joy of
movement and discovery in the bare and the essential," said Chowdhury.
The Friendship
Centre is divided into two sections, the outer Ka block for the offices, library and
training classrooms and the inner Kha block
for the residential section. At a time, 80 people can be trained here in four
separate classrooms. Simplicity is the intent, monastic is the feel. The
laundry and drying shed is located on the other side of the pond. There is no
air-conditioning and the entire lighting is through LED and energy efficient
lamps. Other projects designed to combat possible flooding include a
floating house in New Orleans and a whole neighbourhood in
Copenhagen.
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