BUET STUDENT SAKIB NASIR KHAN WINS ARCASIA THESIS OF THE YEAR AWARD 2024 (TOY)
We are proud to announce that Sakib Nasir Khan, a fresh graduate from the Department of Architecture, BUET (batch 17) has received the prestigious ARCASIA 2024: THESIS OF THE YEAR (TOY) AWARD—in Social Relevance category—for his undergraduate project “In-Between: T-shelters for Urban Disaster Victims.” The TOY 2024 is an international platform where undergraduate final-year students of architecture from twenty-one ARCASIA member countries compete and showcase their design ideas and potential.
Under the supervision of Dr. Asma Naz and Nayna Tabassum, Sakib designed post-disaster shelters for a highly dense location of Old Dhaka (site: Dhupkhola field, Gandaria) for his final-year project. Dhaka city itself is one of the most disaster-prone mega cities in the world, vulnerable and unprepared for earthquakes and fire.
Within disaster management guidelines, a modular system was developed for the shelter units—adaptive to different user needs—generating various space configurations. The project explored creative, structural and technological possibilities for the shelter design with recyclable, easily available and installable materials. Environmental and sustainability issues, including vertical gardening, rainwater recycling and solar paneling were integrated into the shelter design. A parametrically generated Masterplan design provided optimized space usage.
One of the biggest strengths of the project was its trauma-informed approach in space design, aimed to enhance psychological wellbeing (trauma recovery) for disaster victims. Emphasis was placed on creating spaces aimed to provide safety and familiarity, facilitate social interaction and collaboration, and enhance personal comfort, empowerment and community feeling. Design decisions on shelter units, cluster formation and sizes, and spatial layouts supporting variety of activities were backed by thorough, in-depth research on the vulnerable local community—their lifestyle patterns, socio-cultural and aesthetic values, and economic context.
We thank RISE, BUET, for offering a research grant, IAB and the ArcAAB (Architecture Alumni Association of BUET) for providing travel funds to Sakib for participating in the ARCASIA Forum held in January 2025 in Sri Lanka.