LEADING WOMEN 69
architectural programme, moving past the site boundary to attend to the human condition and the local ecology of sustenance.’ Her preoccupation with home, and the
true meaning of home, she attributes to her own and her family’s history. ‘We, the third generation of an immigrant family, grew up with stories and mental constructs of a lost home that exists only in our imaginations. In Bengal, however, home, or “desh”, refers to one’s origin, the village home. Locating “desh” is a shared quest, embedded in the culture of Bengalis.’ In the delta around Dhaka, she found
her ‘desh’. ‘Tere is inherent wisdom embedded in
living symbiotically with nature,’ she said. ‘Tere, families do not aspire for their own dwellings to be different from their neighbours’; values are rooted in homogeneity and a communal way of life.’ A landmark building for her was
encountered when studying architecture at Bangladesh University of Engineering: the parliament complex by Louis Kahn: ‘It was
ritualistic for architecture students to visit the complex with our professors. Te ambulatory is the urban street that connects eight building blocks to the central chamber: the street is a room lit by sunlight filtering through glass bricks embedded in the roof. Te brightness of the direct sun filtering through the ceiling bricks reveals the dramatic play of light and shadow… How the atmosphere inside a building, in this building, could change with the movement of the sun and clouds was my first lesson in daylight.’ Tis reverence for ‘the magic and harnessed
power of light’ has been translated into all her projects. Rejecting the growing consumerism and corporate architecture she saw in burgeoning Dhaka, she opted not to facilitate this new ‘generation of fast-bred buildings, primarily focused on profitability’. She told the Soane audience: ‘Te icon-mania of the super- rich and stardom of architects brought about a crisis. It is a point of crisis when an architect must decide whether to indulge in easy excitement or to choose a path of resistance. I chose to resist, to deny temptation and to search
within; within the land I grew up in, the place and country I call home.’ Forming Urbana, with her then partner
Kashef Chowdhury, in 1995, they turned down commercial but soulless projects to pursue more rewarding work. Tat included low- budget but beautiful residential dwellings that ‘respond to the tropical climate with large openings, terraces, verandas and open green space’. One and a half years after setting up, they landed the prestigious commission to design the Museum of Independence of Bangladesh in Dhaka, completed in 2013. She set up Marina Tabassum Architects
(MTA) in 2005, with the intention of making the most of local materials, geometries and apertures to optimise internal climate and connection with landscape. Her grandmother donated some land and commissioned her to build a mosque. It became a passion project, funded and built by local communities. Bait ur Rouf Mosque broke ground in December 2006. It really put MTA on the map, and netted her an Aga Khan Award for Architecture. She wanted to ‘search for the essence of Islam,
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