oneness
Professional Consultancy
arch.con
Bending herringbone paths trace the entry to a remote village nestled in thick canopy- situated in the middle of nowhere. It is here that the Santal community has built a century-old home for themselves and now aspire to erect a permanent chapel to facilitate worship as well as congregation.
The Santals of Northern Bangladesh are an indigenous community prevalent in the larger region. A century ago, British Colonial rule relocated them to their current habitat; as railway construction labors. Despite growing into village majorities, labels of social inferiority from neighboring communities as well as institutions remain till today.
The need for a community chapel building became an opportunity to support their ongoing struggle for identity and co-existence with their non-indigenous neighbors. At the same time, it presented an invitation to generate circumstances of gathering within the community through the generation of semi-open spaces with plural connotations of use.
Program
Congregation Hall
Preparation Space
Public Toilet
Study Room
Open Community Plinth