Project Description

The Hodi-Mandai, an ethnic group preceding the Ahom with over a thousand years of heritage in the Old Brahmaputra Valley of the Greater Mymensingh, are now facing rapid cultural loss, economic marginalization and displacement. They are about 12,000 in number, with some already offloading ancestral lands and moving to government khas land, disrupting their cultural association with their geography.

This design project is focused on Barar Char in Sherpur District, where a few of the community still live on the periphery of Burodubi Beel—named after their deity 'Bura,' who is personified as the Charak Tree. The design rests on ethnographic fieldwork, utilizing Hodi oral tales, daily life, and rituals to stimulate a cultural space that maintains identity but has room for adaptation.

The suggested approach addresses erosion of religious faith, cultural values, and tradition through the integration of neuro-architectology, anthropology, medicine, economics, psychology and community design. The objective is to create built environments with community needs but retain timeless cultural essence.

The design approach integrates Hodi heritage into architecture that creates socio-economic resilience and spiritual continuity. It invites intercultural dialogue with non-Hodi societies to promote social integration and cross-cultural understanding. The space aims to heal cultural divides, reinforce community bonds, and position architecture at the forefront of cultural continuity. Environmental concerns are also central, acknowledging the importance of the area to migrant birds and the potential for sensitive waterside development—low-key but required elements set within the unique environmental context of Burodubi Beel.