Primary Education For All: Designing Inclusive School for specially-abled and Physically Challenged Children in Rural Bangladesh Using Vernacular Solution
We hit an idea for establishing inclusive education in Bangladesh while submitting a competition entry for ARCH8. We achieved the honorable mention. This blog will describe our conceptual and design development.
ARCHITECTURAL STUDYEDUCATIONSUSTAINABLE LIVINGFEATUREDCOMPETITION
Muhammad Golam Sami, Mohika Proma Sikder, Anik Chanda
1/12/20222 min read
Image: Design Submission for ARCH8 ~ School It (Muhammad Golam Sami'2021-2022)
About 16 million people in Bangladesh are physically challenged or Specially abled, which is almost 10% of the country's population. In the rural region of a third-world country like Bangladesh, there is no provision of inclusive schools because of Bangladesh's economic condition, status, socio-cultural perception about specially-abled children, etc. We aim to establish a prototype inclusive school for rural regions like Bangladesh, which is cost-effective, vernacular, easy to build, totally contextual, and climatically sustainable. We have solved it in the olfactory and acoustic approach for the blind, in the symbolic process for the deaf, and in making the distribution of a balanced and modular space approach accessible for the physically challenged. The key objective was to achieve a sense of home and create a building that would evoke the students' sense of identity and belonging. The concept of small learning communities discussed earlier is invaluable for this end. Instead of creating one big building, breaking down the scale into smaller learning communities is most effective. The exteriors of the small learning communities are purposefully varied in window color and landmarks such as gardens, allowing children to easily identify them and develop a sense of belonging to "their" learning community. In small learning communities, everyone knows each other. The children are more likely to interact and help each other in these cohesive groups, like a family. In this way, the sense of home comes into being.
Meet The AuthorS
Muhammad Golam Sami
B. Arch, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology, Khulna, Bangladesh Architect | Futurist | Sustainable Design Expert
Operational Head, ADORA Studios, Bangladesh
Founder, samism.org
Lecturer, Department of Architecture
Northern University of Business & Technology
Mohika Proma Sikder
B. Arch, Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology,
Dhaka, Bangladesh
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