Project Description

Our chosen negative site lies on Station Road, Tejgaon, Dhaka, beneath the junction of a flyover and the expressway. Leftover from the city’s rapid construction, it primarily contains scrap metal, concrete rings, and empty containers. 

The site is located opposite a cycle gallery and a mosque, with the Tejgaon railway track to its east. South of the containers, the muddy ground is misused as a dumpyard adjacent to the traffic node, while rickshaws and vans occupy the rest. Despite its derelict state, children play among the scrap in the afternoons, and locals gather to watch and converse. In this dense neighborhood, where gated communities limit greenery and public life, a healing space must offer room to breathe, gather, and play; much like the rural circle beneath a banyan tree. 

Our design turns the site into a vibrant communal ground, with a safe play area for children and a sunken court that invites people of all ages to sit, gossip, and reconnect; helping to draw them away from digital isolation and back into face-to-face community life. Even musallis from the nearby mosque can stroll through, enjoy a cup of tea, and linger in the shade.

Our approach begins with reuse: existing containers become communal spaces, placed along the site’s boundary to form an introverted, courtyard-like space while concrete rings are reused as informal seating around open areas. A central sunken court provides a welcoming gathering space, and greenery weaves through the design, cleansing the air, softening the noise, enhancing the spatial quality and lifting the spirit.

From an overlooked wasteland, the site is reborn as the neighborhood’s living room: a place where children play freely, elders exchange stories, and the community breathes together again.