ArchSociety

A new organization is launching in London with a mission to enhance spaces for the community through multidisciplinary practice in Bangladesh. Architect Ruhul Abdin and his colleagues are the founder and the visionary of the organization, named PARA (পাড়া), the founders are Bangladeshi and British Bangladeshi and have identified a pressing need for architects to play a bigger role in the development of the country and its communities.
PARA is a social enterprise which will work to develop the built environment of various communities in Bangladesh as it is one of the least developed countries with a high density of population and is vulnerable to natural disasters due to climate change.
To allow for better understanding of communities and their needs they wish to conduct thorough research with multidisciplinary experts. They have adopted a process that engages local community members and international experts to participate in all the levels of the project.
They wish to get engaged with communities, hold research projects, raise funds, recruit volunteers and finally to create a 'School of Thought' in Bangladesh to complement PARA's ongoing practice and research.

And to mention, ArchSociety always wish to extend their help and support to PARA in all of their noble ventures.

Their First Project plan:
PARA will launch its first research project on the launch night, a learning resource center for the Urdu speaking Communities, living in permanent settlement camps known as the Bihari camps, in Dhaka. This community has recently been granted citizenship in 2008. They have fallen behind in the race for education due to a lack of access to resources and barriers inpolitical and socio‐economic conditions. Currently the community stands at a population of 250,000 throughout Bangladesh, with a majority in Dhaka, their living conditions are dire and this initial project will enable Para to develop and work with the community towards a long term goal of obtaining an equal footing in mainstream society.
The need to address issues in marginalized communities as well as respond to those needs will be a priority for Para. They will look to engage with practitioners in Bangladesh and the wider international community to address and push forward ideas.

PARA Launch Night in London:


The launch night is free and open to the public and will consist of special guests, live music, a unique workshop with Momenul Haque, poetry recital and 2 photography exhibitions. Ruhul Abdin will exhibit photographs from his recent tour of Bangladesh and Sunara Begum will exhibit photographs of the members from the Urdu Speaking community.
When: Saturday 11th June, Doors open at 17:30, doors close at 18:15
Where: Attlee Centre, Thrawl Street, London, E1 6RT (nearest tube: Aldgate, Aldgate East, Liverpool Street)
RSVP Requested as seats are limited: RSVP to para[at]archsociety.com email address.
To download the official press release, the event poster and a page about Para, CLICK HERE (300Kb PDF, Opens new window).

The image attached here is the copy of the original circulation from the office.
Dateline for CV submission in on 15th June, 2011
[Submitted by mRs. AhSaN]

Urban design discourse should always remain open to multidisciplinary inputs with a vision as open until people call it wild! Since most often we fail to imagine what's going to happen after a 100 years to a city, we are to keep our thoughts rising and shining with wildness to cope up. And here is a competition that would allow us to think again for a city's future, it's for Canberra, the capital of Australia.

The competition is entitled as CAPITheticAL, allowing registration for free for any design professional including architects, urban designers, planners, artists, environmentalists and students to participate from any country. It will be followed by a two stage submission process of design proposals with a cash-prize for winners.
Submission deadline for 1st stage: 31st January 2012

The competition is looking forward to the answers to many questions, including:
-Would you build a new capital today or could the Australian Federation be expressed in a different way?
-Would it be a city in the conventional sense or not? If not, what form might it take?
-What ideas would drive its design and development?
-How would 21st century social, political and environmental factors influence the nature of the city?
-Of what should our national capital consist?

Think, read, explore, brain-storm and jump into design. Here is the link to the competition website, go through for details and for registration:
http://www.capithetical.com.au/