Building Through Celebration

In Bangladesh, from the very childhood of ours, we have always seen people inviting their friends, families and neighbors to attend some prayer ceremony, right when they are finished building a new space. That can be a home, a school, a mosque or even a new shop. And whenever we were invited, we would wait for the pack of sweets, nimki and jilapi that they would offer everyone to receive well-wishes and have a blissful lifeline of that space. When we had grown a little and got to observe few constructions in our surrounding, we noticed that the celebration is not only limited within the after-construction ceremony. We noticed the craftsmen would ask for a sweet party (mishti-mukh) right before the starting of a big day, let’s say construction of the roof of the house, or casting of the main floor etc. We could clearly tell a construction was on-going by the voices of a group singing, not the heavy sounds of a machine. 

We could hear the craftsmen singing Jari gaan, Sari gaan, Bhawaiya gaan, Chhad petano gaan (concrete roof construction songs) and many other genres. ‘‘Aare o kala chand…o kalaa… ami tomar jonno shoibo koto nonodinir jala (Hey Kala Chand, hey Kala, for you I will go through such anguishes oh my Kala).’’ All these incidents would make us wonder, construction must be such a joyful event. But it changed slowly as well. Slowly these voices started disappearing. Large drawings started appearing on sites. With the tiniest details drawn on them, which to be followed exactly how it is told. The singers, craftsmen and builders (ghorami), now were commonly known as ‘labors’.
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If you go to rural places, where the building process is mostly dependent on local craftsmen and builders, decorative features on building components is a common practice. It is as if they want to make their work most appealing to their clients. They also have reputations built based on their efforts and craftsmanship.  Wood-carved floral patterns, decorative clay tiles, floral-motifs on mud wall/cement work, finest bamboo screens etc. are quite commonly found. One of the most important components, for a collective better living environment- ‘care and the extra effort’ is often not missing in the field. Extensively decorative metal works, with complex floral patterns or difficult to build geometries are often the most available things you see around. Just may be today’s designers can come forward to collaborate and initiate conversations on sensible use of materials, environmental impacts and other aspects etc. Learning together might add value to the efforts, that are already there to build a collective society.
There are other good sides of the craftsmen based process. The work processes are mostly developed slowly and one can find many contextual solutions if they look closely into them. Local craftsmen and people collectively also create a local taste that can offer clues towards developing unique, contextual and appropriate design solutions. Also which can be easily replicable in the event a designer enhances an existing technique/design solution from the place. As, it is quite important to work on the very unique identities of places. Why? That is a separate discussion.    
Human being has always used their built structures to express themselves, in personal level or in community level. Whether a house to feel proud about, a castle to express power, or a large temple to spread belief system, people probably always have had the intuition of expressing through buildings, in many events to stand out too. Even in fictions, people have always described their built environment in a poetic way or even paved the ways towards new dreams. That says how much we love to dream of new exciting places and revisit old nostalgic ones.

Whenever we went to any community and talked to the members about how they want to see their living environment, aspirations never came in short. But it came to us a surprise when it was not just aspirations but also well informed knowledge, whether about environment, about resources or about comfort/health etc. That made us realize how more & more of these conversations are needed to make us collectively strong & aware. Specially how important it is for the designer, to learn to listen and share more, as If she/he were there to learn and simultaneously offer some new realizations.
At the early days of the B.arch course in BUET, we used to design and build installations. Those courses were memorable as we all came together to think something crazy and find ways to build it. Those were no less exciting than a backpack tour with your friends. Creating something new, somehow appeared as a blessing again in life. If it were otherwise, we would not enjoy arranging the biggest event of the faculty, ‘Pohela Boishakh’ (Bengali New Year), every year. Working nights on ideation and building mascots-stages-backdrops, painting & singing whole night, all these were the best things one could ask for. The event itself was not as exciting as the preparation nights. Somehow all the stressful works appeared as joy, instead of a burden on the shoulder.
Probably these were implanted in our subconscious and somehow we wanted to replicate the festivity when we were working in the field. On site discussions, inclusivity, sharing thoughts and stories were part of the stressful construction works.

Before a construction in the Rohingya refugee camps, focus group discussions would come helpful. With different age groups, children, male-female members or community key leaders. Each time the discussion would be different as the work focus were never the same. But trying to know each other, remembering which structures were memorable to them, what would they love to do in the garden etc. would bring out the aspirations of the immediate users. Having a good cup of tea and biscuits would cheer everyone up too. But mostly when everyone is offered respect and value to have an opinion on something important, made the key connection. Later we would go back to design the spaces with flexible components that would allow everyone to participate in design and construction. Floral motifs on tiles, paintings on bamboo screens, decorative works with split bamboo etc. would offer the flexibility to participate.

In the refugee camps, mental health and wellbeing is always an issue, specially when a community has gone through such traumatic events in life. The camps were being built over night and the refugees would participate in the stressful job. There was always something being built here and there. Of course, celebration was not the most appropriate thing to have in mind when the camps went through the ‘emergency phase’. But right after, when it went to the ‘development phase’, it was time to think of other layers along with the dignity of the community.

Designing softer spaces with artisans and arranging post construction workshops with children & other members would create scope to interact more and offer joy & dignity. For example, the newly built Safe Space for Women & Girls in Camp 18. The male artisans of the community would build and paint the center for their mothers, sisters, daughters & partners, and then the Children would draw their perception towards the space on paper with colors and share each other’s thoughts. Someone would say they feel like the space is like a flower and someone would say it is like a stadium! The intention would always be to have an inclusive & dignifying environment, in a hope to reduce the stresses from the traumas.

In another project- ‘Hindupara Community Centre for Hindupara Camp’, the artisans and adolescents would come forward to create patterns on the floor. Elephants, boats and many other elements would find their place as everyone participates to create a complete collage. Later the female members and children would gather to list plants and trees important to their culture. They would take a whole day to paint the center, collect the seeds and plant them where they like! These would create conversations where appropriateness, environmental impacts and other philosophies would also be discussed.

Many of these works lead to the opportunity to our final work in the camp ‘Rohingya Cultural Memory Centre’.
The center was designed and built to ensure the mental well-being during the construction time. And it made sure of an environment where Rohingya refugees can express who they are in the temporary camp settlements. Eventually they made a place, where the memory is more permanent than the place itself. Artisans and community members came forward with their indigenous knowledge, techniques, ways of lives and stories that helped visualizing an appropriate approach for designing the space. Nipa palm leaf (om pata/gol pata) pallets for roofing, various bamboo weaving techniques, traditional doors-windows-household patterns and all other information resulted in from a continuous process. The elderly artisans who had expertise from years, taught the young generations the techniques that they used to have. While the young Rohingya souls explored new possibilities.

Every day in the camps were like a design studio session for the entire team. For example, artisans were asked to reflect their favorite memory/story through designing a small window. Own houses, fishing, elephants, birds, paddy fields and all other memories were reflected and now stand together in the centre reflecting a sense of memory and togetherness.
Since this community has vast skill on natural materials, the materials were selected with caution to have familiar techniques during the construction. To achieve the target of inclusiveness and joyful event, these natural materials created scope to craft the building from scratch. During the construction, some days would be just music days. Singers from the camp would arrive and everyone would sing, dance and enjoy. Probably that would create more beauty in every element they would make for the place.

‘Magher bash, bagher cham (Bamboo harvested during the month of Magh/end of winter, is as tough as the skin of a tiger’. We learnt these proverbs from them. As well as we discussed philosophies like ‘honesty/truthfulness in construction’ with them. For example, why a design from the system is more appropriate than faking it? Why honesty is important for any culture? We would discuss, debate, agree, disagree and laugh. But would certainly realize more important things of life. That life is, indeed bigger than having a crafted place, designed in a distant office room.
 
If architecture is poetry, it has so far been described as a frozen one. But in many cultures, it has not really been frozen. Building, rebuilding, reconstructing, adding, painting, celebration, it has rather been a continuous one. Which I believe is more alive than being a frozen peace of work.