SMALL HOUSE ON THE RHINE BY MARINA TABASSUM
The Khudi Bari is a bamboo structure designed for the river landscapes of Bangladesh. A small house of this innovative typology was recently erected on the Vitra Campus, heralding a new era in architecture.
Inexpensive, self-built, and easily dismantled: The Khudi Bari – meaning “small house” in Bengali – provides crucial shelter for the inhabitants of the flat river landscapes of Bangladesh. Vast amounts of water flow from the Himalayas into the Ganges- Brahmaputra Delta, continuously reshaping the terrain by carving out new channels and depositing sediment. For those living in these dynamic environments, life is precarious and unpredictable. Farmland is regularly flooded, new fertile islands form and
are settled, while others are reclaimed by the water.
Flood protection
How can people sustain their lives on the river islands, or chars, that periodically emerge in this delta? Working with her Foundation for Architecture and Community Equity (FACE) and local community groups, archi- tect and Aga Khan Award winner Marina Tabassum and her team have designed the Khudi Bari to improve living conditions at a basic subsistence level. This small house is affordable, floodresistant, and provides essential shelter. “The people living on the sandbanks who are displaced have a zero carbon footprint, yet they bear the brunt of the climate crisis,” notes the Bangladeshi architect. The Khudi Bari’s simple triangular bamboo structure, assembled with prefabricated steel nodes, requires no tools for construction. During floods, the elevated upper level under the roof remains dry. The design also includes windows on both sides to ensure crossventilation. When residents need to relocate, the Khudi Bari can be easily dismantled and reassembled at a new site.
On the Vitra Campus
A Khudi Bari has been installed on the renowned Vitra Campus in Weil am Rhein, Germany, a site that serves as both an industrial site and cultural hub. This model home exemplifies architectural solutions to the challenges posed by climate change and joins the distinguished collection of structures that Vitra’s chairman emeritus, Rolf Fehlbaum, has curated over the years. Marina Tabassum is “a role model for socially committed architecture”, remarks Fehlbaum, underscoring why her modest yet groundbreaking house is aptly positioned alongside iconic works such as Buckminster Fuller’s Dome, Jean Prouvé’s petrol station, and Renzo Piano’s Diogene mini house. The Khudi Bari marks a pivotal shift in international architectural discourse, as the voices of the developing world are finally being heard.
Text: Sandra Hofmeister
DETAIL 10.2024, pp.8 (see also for German version)