ULAB New Campus / Kashef Chowdhury – URBANA

ULAB New Campus / Kashef Chowdhury – URBANA

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Beyond Hermetics – The recently completed new campus building for the University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB) in Dhaka is designed by Kashef Chowdhury and his Dhaka-based studio URBANA. Chowdhury is responsible for a number of climate-sensitive buildings in the deltaic landscape of Bangladesh and had already attracted international attention among others with the award-winning Friendship Centre in Gaibandha (Aga Khan Award 2016) and the Friendship Hospital in Sathkhira (RIBA International Prize 2021).

One of the striking aspects of the ULAB building is its high porosity and a wealth of un-programmed spaces. In a hot and humid climate that has made the permeable building type of the bungalow a fundamental element of the building, spatial openness is always welcome to facilitate natural cross-ventilation. The linear basic disposition of the new building is kept simple and pragmatic, in accordance with the restricted budget and especially with the narrow site between a canal and a row of large spread trees. By stacking the extensive building program vertically the tall shading trees could be kept. Although the volume is compact, its sophisticated distribution of mass and emptiness reveals a spatial wealth that goes beyond all hermetic.

In addition to its spatial porosity that increases natural ventilation and illumination, also the construction of the building comes up with a set of innovative measures. The entire building, including the ceilings, is made of locally produced ceramic bricks. The walls are thick cavity walls that reduce thermal conductivity and the windows of the teaching wings are proportioned in a balanced way, taking into account the reduction of solar heat gain.

Circular skylights in the deep circulation zones provide additional lighting and allow hot air to escape upwards. The roof is covered with a thermal mass of earth and green which also has a positive effect on the internal climate. The plants that hang down from the roof and penetrate the circular skylights like green lampshades are as much an integral part of the building as the screens of overflowing greenery that protect stairways and semi-open gathering areas from driving rain. The green shimmering in the dimmed light contrasts with the bright red of the brick and immerses the building in a cheerful stimulating atmosphere.

With the design for the ULAB building, Kashef Chowdhury achieves a balancing act between compactness and porosity. The open and permeable effect of the building, despite tight local and financial constraints, shows that pragmatism and poetry can co-exist when it comes to creating sustainable educational buildings. It also demonstrates a contemporary intertwining with Bengal’s building history and its wonderful brick tradition. In the river landscape of the delta, in a country without natural stone deposits, everything seems to float. Brick, extracted locally from the moist soil brought in by seasonal floods, has always been the appropriate material to create identity, durability, and permanence. The building looks back into the future, so to speak.