Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana
28/09/2022.
[Jhenaidah] Bangladesh
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
metalocus, ADELA BONAS
Co.Creation.Architects, Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, and Suhailey Farzana have made the banks of the Nabaganga River in Jhenaidah, Bangladesh, available for the enjoyment of all local people.
A community-driven project providing public spaces in a riverine city with 250,000 residents, offering walkways, gardens and cultural facilities, as well as environmental efforts to increase biodiversity along the river.
A community-driven project providing public spaces in a riverine city with 250,000 residents, offering walkways, gardens and cultural facilities, as well as environmental efforts to increase biodiversity along the river.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Photography by Aga Khan Trust for Culture / Asif Salman.
Master plan along the river. Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana.
Plan of the public ghat. Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana.
Shatbariya community ghat. Urban River Spaces by Co.Creation.Architects / Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana.
The community-driven project by Co.Creation.Architects (Khondaker Hasibul Kabir and Suhailey Farzana) provides a public space for the riverside town of Jhenaidah, which has a population of 250,000. In recent years, access to and use of the river and its banks had been hampered. To date, the project comprises two 'ghats' - stairways leading down to platforms in the river, with adjacent walkways - and the opening of previously obstructed footpaths that now lead to them.
Simple, contextual designs have used local materials such as brick and concrete, all built by local builders, masons, and craftsmen; the site-specific projects retain all the trees and vegetation previously found in the area.
The next phases of the project focus on the public use of the river area with promenades, gardens, cultural facilities, and environmental efforts to increase biodiversity in the river.
Simple, contextual designs have used local materials such as brick and concrete, all built by local builders, masons, and craftsmen; the site-specific projects retain all the trees and vegetation previously found in the area.
The next phases of the project focus on the public use of the river area with promenades, gardens, cultural facilities, and environmental efforts to increase biodiversity in the river.
Through consistent community participation and appropriation, extensive involvement of women and marginalised groups, and a local workforce, the seemingly simple undertaking of cleaning up the access to the Nabaganga river in Jhenaidah led to a thoughtful and minimal landscaping project with local materials and construction techniques, thus transforming a derelict informal dump site into an attractive and accessible multifunctional space that is valued by Jhenaidah’s diverse communities. As such, the project managed to reverse the ecological degradation and health hazards of the river and its banks and induce effective ecological improvement of the river, in one of the most riverine countries on earth.
Extract, Jury Citation.
Description of project by The Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN)
Recent urban expansion in Bangladesh has seen its originally river-facing cities become road- and land-focused, their watercourses reduced to backyards and dumping grounds. One such is Jhenaidah, where architects Khondaker Hasibul Kabir and Suhailey Farzana grew up. Keen to enhance the quality of life here, they moved back from Dhaka in 2015 and instigated a participatory initiative to enable low-income communities to build their own houses, followed by an extensive series of “Co-Creation Workshops” engaging citizens to rethink the city’s public spaces. Putting the resulting visualisations into action has produced the Urban River Spaces, which so far comprise two ghats (steps leading to waterside platforms) plus adjacent walkways and access pathways – reconnecting the city to the river. All visible surfaces are in local brick.
By far the larger of the ghats, the 115-metre-long “public ghat” has two plateaus linked by various stairways and a ramp for the disabled, the lower plateau remaining at least 3.7 metres above the water. People of all ages and backgrounds, including some from nearby towns and villages, regularly come here to walk, sit, meet, or engage in sport, cultural or recreational activities. The upper retaining wall serves on the lower plateau as a vertical surface for public exhibitions, and on the upper one joins with a parapet that meanders around the pre-existing trees – some over a century old – to create semi-enclosed, shaded areas where people can sit facing each other. This ghat can also serve as a two-level auditorium for theatrical performances given on a floating deck or on the opposite riverbank.
The smaller “community ghat” is directly connected to the water’s edge via a few steps. Intended for and used extensively by one of the city’s largest low-income communities, where the majority are Hindu, it caters specifically to their needs in terms of bathing, washing and practising religious rituals, with a changing room and benches provided.
Mobilised by the community’s enthusiasm, Jhenaidah Municipality employed local craftspeople to execute the project, the architects providing pro-bono consultancy services. The mayor reports that representatives of over 50 municipalities have visited to learn from these community engagement programmes.
More information
Client
Residents & Jhenaidah City Authority.
Area
1,632 m².
Dates
Completed.- 2019.
Venue / Localitation
Nabaganga River in Jhenaidah, Bangladesh.
Photography
Khondaker Hasibul Kabir, Suhailey Farzana. Co.Creation.Architects
Co.Creation.Architects is an architecture firm based in Jhenaidah, Bangladesh and was founded by Khondaker Hasibul Kabir and Suhailey Farzana couple, in 2014. Co.Creation.Architects and its team of livability-savvy experts have been working one small step at a time. From reimagining villages to entire cities, the firm is fixated on the idea of taking people's opinions while shaping development goals.
Khondaker Hasibul Kabir. a Buet and UK-trained architect, decided to make Jhenaidah his home and began looking for communities that needed help. Khondaker Hasibul Kabir is an assistant professor in the architecture department at Brac University.
Suhailey Farzana. Community Architect, Platform of Community Actions and Architecture (POCAA), Bangladesh. Graduated from Bachelor of Architecture of BRAC University, Bangladesh. She also studied youth leadership at University of Vermont under United States SUSI program. Currently volunteering in POCA, Community Architects Network (CAN) and working as a 2015 Parween Rahman Fellow.
Khondaker Hasibul Kabir. a Buet and UK-trained architect, decided to make Jhenaidah his home and began looking for communities that needed help. Khondaker Hasibul Kabir is an assistant professor in the architecture department at Brac University.
Suhailey Farzana. Community Architect, Platform of Community Actions and Architecture (POCAA), Bangladesh. Graduated from Bachelor of Architecture of BRAC University, Bangladesh. She also studied youth leadership at University of Vermont under United States SUSI program. Currently volunteering in POCA, Community Architects Network (CAN) and working as a 2015 Parween Rahman Fellow.
