Project Description

For generations, the Surma River’s embrace has been a fragile and terrifying thing for its dwellers. Its rising floodwaters brought a familiar horror, leaving them distraught, their hearts heavy with hopelessness. The sight of the water's angry swell was a promise of loss, a wave of despair that washed away everything they held dear, a cycle of sorrow they believed would never end.

But this design is a new promise, a defiant declaration against the river's unyielding power. The ghat is a welcoming beacon for both our community and outsiders, inviting everyone to find a moment of peace and recreation. Here, laughter can ring out without the shadow of fear. The ghat and its expansive central zone stand on an eight-foot plinth, a bastion of safety towering above the five-foot flood line. During the deluge, the central zone transforms into a sacred haven. Here, amidst the raging waters, the community finds peace and security. Most profoundly, the thoughtful design includes meticulously crafted niches and spaces that offer safe refuge to the animals of the ecosystem, making it a compassionate safe house for all life—not just people.

When the river recedes, the central zone transforms once more, becoming a vibrant heart of progress. It will offer vocational training and weekly healthcare facilities, nurturing both the spirit and the body of the community. The dwellers will no longer look at this structure and feel dread. Instead, they will see a future teeming with possibility, a new beginning built on the very bank of the river that once brought them only fear. They will finally find happiness and peace.