Heritage at Risk: Community-Led Strategies for Continuity, Livelihood, and Everyday Life in Birulia, Bangladesh | Bachelors Design Thesis

Site Context

Located on the western bank of the Turag River near Dhaka, Birulia is a historic merchant settlement that flourished during British colonial rule following the Permanent Settlement Act of 1793. River-based trade supported influential families such as the Sahas under the Bhawal Zamindars, producing courtyard houses, temples, marketplaces, and a cohesive socio-religious landscape aligned along Tarok Babur Rasta.

Political upheavals—Partition in 1947, communal riots in 1964, and the Liberation War of 1971—triggered displacement and abandonment. Of more than sixty colonial-era structures, only a fraction survives today. Yet Birulia continues to host Durga Puja, Pahela Baishakh, and Digambari Mela, where intangible heritage persists despite material decay.

The program responds to this layered condition by addressing governance gaps, lack of economic incentives, and weak visitor infrastructure. Rather than treating Birulia as isolated monuments, the project approaches it as a living cultural landscape requiring adaptive, socially embedded conservation.

Design Process

The design process began with a critical question: Can every part of Birulia be preserved in the same way? Field surveys, oral histories, stakeholder interviews, and architectural documentation revealed varied conditions — abandoned yet valuable buildings, socially active but fragile spaces, and areas under intense development pressure. A uniform conservation approach would freeze life instead of sustaining it.

To negotiate between memory and change, the settlement is reorganized into three interdependent zones: Educational, Heritage, and Commercial. This zoning strategy allows differentiated intervention based on cultural value, physical condition, and community needs.

Implementation follows the “3D Rule”—Discuss, Detect, Decision—ensuring participatory evaluation before any intervention. Conservation becomes a collaborative process rather than a top-down imposition. The design prioritizes minimal intervention, adaptive reuse, livelihood integration, and infrastructural improvement, aligning preservation with everyday life.

Final Outcome

The final proposal transforms conservation into a self-sustaining system. In the Educational Zone, existing structures are adapted into a library and community club, while the central field becomes a shared platform for learning and cultural exchange.

In the Heritage Zone, vacant historic houses are restored with minimal intervention and converted into a heritage guesthouse, generating income and reinforcing stewardship. In the Commercial Zone, a relocated substation enables the creation of a new gateway marked by a market, museum, and research facilities—establishing identity while supporting tourism and civic needs.

Conclusion: The outcome is not a preserved village frozen in time, but a living cultural landscape capable of renewal. This proposal does not simply conserve Birulia; it equips the village to sustain itself—transforming memory into use, and use into value.

[This Academic Project has been published with text and images submitted by the student]