Project Description

Rangamati Hill District, in the Chittagong Hill Tracts, is home to the Chakma people — forest dwellers, farmers, artisans, and followers of Theravāda Buddhism. For generations, their lives were woven into the hills, the bamboo groves, and the rivers. But the Kaptai Dam washed away villages. Later, military occupation brought fear. Those wounds never fully healed.

In the middle of this story stands an old school's leftover. The cracked walls, the broken-roof. It was a place of learning, built for the children. Now it’s silent, taken over by weeds. For many, it’s a reminder of loss. We want to bring it back but not as just a school. As a place to heal. A place where children can learn without fear, where seniors share stories beneath the trees, and where memories are respected.

The strategy is:

• Forest paths for peaceful strolling and contemplation.

• circular courts with seating for conversation.

• workshops where craftspeople impart their knowledge.

• Open-air classrooms where the forest becomes the blackboard.

We’ll use what the Chakma people have always built with bamboo, thatch, mud plaster, timber gathered nearby and crafted by local hands. The buildings will face southeast, in line with Buddhist tradition, to catch the cool winds. We won’t erase the ruins. We’ll keep them, let them speak, and make them places of reflection.

This isn’t just an architecture, it’s turning a abandoned place into a hope, giving children curiosity and pride, making the land, the people, and the past speak to each other again.