The Arc en Rêve exhibition centre in Bordeaux celebrates 30 years of Bangladeshi architecture

After a series of exhibitions dedicated to the work of architects from Burkina Faso, India and more recently China, the French cultural centre Arc en Rêve in Bordeaux is now looking at Bangladesh with its new exhibition “Bengal Stream”. Curated by architect Niklaus Graber and art historian Andreas Ruby, the show – which will stay on until March 3rd 2019 – explores 30 years of architectural production in a country where the fight against the effects of climate change is already part of everyday life. Engaged in a dialogue between past and present, the exhibition analyses the major role played by Bangladeshi architect Muzharul Islam (1923-2012), who started to invite international architects – such as Paul Rudolph, Stanley Tigerman and Louis I. Kahn – to build in Dhaka already in the second half of the XX century, creating a bridge between tradition and modernity. The exhibition then looks at the contemporary scene, presenting the work of some of the disciples of Islam, such as Shamsul Wares, Nahas Khalil, Saif Ul Haque, Kashef Chowdhury and Eshan Khan. Despite having a distinct vision and approach to architecture, all of them are linked by the same willingness of creating a tight and engaged community that plays an important role in today’s society, initiating and co-financing social and/or environmental projects parallel to their commercial work.

Spanning over more than three decades – from the early 1980 till today – the exhibition presents, in six consecutive rooms, more than 60 projects among which are large ensembles like Marina Tabassum’s Museum of Independence (1997), the Nature Interpretation Centre designed by Vitti Sthapati Brindo Ltd and Archeground Ltd’s award-winning project, the Loom Shade for Amber Denim (Gazipur, 2015). Described by Munir Muniruzzaman – the former Military Advisor to the President of Bangladesh – as a “global laboratory”, the country is already experiencing at first hands what might well be the future of many other states around the world because of the effects of global warming. A subject that, as “Bengal Stream” underlines, over the past decades has been tackled by many architects: from the floating schools developed by the Bangladeshi organisation Shidhulai Swanirvar Sangstha, to “Growing up”, a garden and playground imagined by architecture studio Paraa, to Anna Heringer’s METI Handmade School (Rudrapur, 2005).