Description

The project is an academy for the ‘EKMATTRA’ foundation, which provides a home for the destitute children of Dhaka city. It was founded with the vision of creating a place of hope with a sense of freedom and ambiance to dream boundlessly.

The site is at Haluaghat, a remote landscape in the northern district, of Mymensingh with lush greenery encircled by seasonal water channels at three sides in the context of a hilly background of the Indian border. Built on a 3.4-acre land, the idea of the project was to create a place of learning, rest, and play. The sheds are positioned to create a free-flowing space transiting from the court of learning to the court of play & leisure. The existing trees are embroidered with the built masses to blend into each other. The water retention ponds at the south and north are to safeguard the site from flush flooding while also acting as a pool of retained water in the dry season.

Like the common rural settings of built forms in Bangladesh, the northern courtyard or ‘Uthan’ at the beginning of the north facilitates an ‘administration block’ at the east with a health center, multipurpose room and a kitchen that connects with pathways leading to the dining room and the two-storied teachers’ quarter at the south. The other ‘Academic block’ at the west with vocational training facilities is parallel to the administration building, creating the conglomeration space for the daily parade and formal gathering. The northern transit by a shift of axis into the southern courtyard, contained by two single-story boys’ dormitory blocks accommodating 80 boys and their adjacent toilet extensions. The two-storied girl’s dormitory block accommodating 64 girls at the north with its common toilet is segregated from this court by a water pond at the south to create a cooler ambiance for the living space.