MEGHNA RESIDENCE | Shatotto

Meghna Residence – Tropical and Deltaic Experience

Living in the delta

Dhaka is a very densely populated city, and most of its original one-story residential fabric, with traditional open green spaces, is rapidly being replaced by high-rise apartment buildings. The Meghna residence is a single extended family house located in Dhanmondi, Bangladesh’s first-ever planned residential area, dating back to the early 1960s. The house was conceived in three layers, respectively taking account of its immediate context, the climate and the traditional building typology.

Context

The building stands on a corner plot, with connecting roads at the northeast and the northwest. The northwest road has a central line of tall and bulky mahogany trees acting as a screen providing privacy for the house. The house faces a large open playfield and a swimming pool belonging to the women sport’s federation across the northeast road. On the southeast stands a six-story apartment whose facade boasts 49 windows overlooking the plot, while on the southwest lies a two-story residence, on the site with the potential of high-rise construction sometime in the future.

Climate

Dhaka lies on the 23.7° latitude, not far from the tropic of cancer. During the summer winds arrive from the southeast, shifting towards the southwest and carrying monsoon rains that discharge approximately 60 inches yearly. The summer solstice does not seem to be critical that starts from the northeast, with a vertex at midday in the northwest in the afternoon, presents few problems with building design. But the winter sun inclines further to the south, requiring more preventive measures in the design.

Typology

Throughout Bangladesh one of the traditional typologies of the building design is the courtyard. For this, a U-shaped configuration was adopted to shield the view from 49 windows in the high-rise block on the southeast, particularly to guarantee privacy for the swimming pool on the fifth level of the house and to ensure cross-ventilation during the critical winter solstice and throughout the summer for the living spaces. These are mostly concentrated in the northwest and the southwest side of the plot. Further effort was made to achieve a traditional living ambience, with layers of greenery and water providing a tropical and deltaic experience.