Architecture Asia Magazine [July 2007]

LIAKAT ALI RESIDENCE

URBAN LIVING ENVIRONMENT in our country generally varies according to the built area & land area ratio. In our country there is a crying need for the dwellers to utilize maximum spaces according to their needs along with their land areas. Sometimes ae3sthetics conflict with their rational needs. Positive outdoor spaces are really a crisis factor in our residential plots. The project location is in Pachlais, Chittagong. It is the port city of Bangladesh. Natural settings with small hills elsewhere and terrain land levels make its topography outstanding. The architects made his consideration in the project’s functional layout, as he connects north & south side facing rooms trough a connecting bridge.

The built area is considered on one side of the cardinal line while the other part is considered for open space. The building is North-South elongated considering 50% land from the front side. So 50% open space is the positive space where landscape with a swimming pool is accommodated. As the sun rises from east and sets at west, so at noon the foreside spaces get enough comfortable shadow. This is a positive solution for the client that has to be appreciated. An interlocking position of forms made of fair-face concrete structure with limestone cladded building. The architect’s taste of using materials as glass, aluminum louvers, limestone, as well as different types of wood makes an interesting intermingling of contemporary & indigenous materials.