(“Text as submitted by architect”)
Shahla Karim Kabir
Shahla Karim Kabir is one of the principal architects, founding partner, and chairman of Studio Morphogenesis Ltd. She pursued the first three years of her architecture degree at the School of Environmental Science at Canberra University. After an apprenticeship at a Canberra-based firm she completed, she received her architectural degree from the University of Sydney. Shahla’s childhood was spent overseas since her parents were in the diplomatic service.
She returned to Bangladesh and started working at renowned architecture practice Bashirul Haq and Associates to gain experience and knowledge of local building practices. Subsequently, she started practicing separately until she opened Studio Morphogenesis Ltd. along with her partners. She honed her expertise in efficient space design, with a special focus on residential architecture and interiors.
Suvro Sovon Chowdhury
Suvro Sovon Chowdhury is one of the principal architects, a founding partner, and a director of Studio Morphogenesis Ltd. He graduated from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2008. He went to the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London (UCL) to pursue a Masters in Architecture degree in Architectural Design in 2014–15 and completed the degree with a distinction in design.
He enriched his exposure to diversified global architecture theories and practices by visiting eminent architecture schools and offices. He has been invited to present his work on notable national and international platforms. From private homes to public projects, from small-scale to large-scale architecture, he has demonstrated his excellence in customised details and novel material explorations.
Minhaz Bin Gaffar
Minhaz Bin Gaffar is one of the principal architects, founding partner, and managing director of Studio Morphogenesis Ltd. He graduated from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2008. He served as Secretary of Welfare of the Architecture Alumni Association of BUET (ArcAAB) and President of ArcSA, the Architecture Student Association, BUET. Having an interest in project management and the construction process, he demonstrates his expertise, especially in high-performance building, functional working spaces, and sustainable development.
Saiqa Iqbal Meghna
Saiqa Iqbal Meghna is one of the principal architects, a founding partner, and a director of Studio Morphogenesis Ltd. She completed her Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2008 from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). She went to Barcelona to pursue a Masters in Advanced Architecture in 2011 from the Institute of Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC). She attended the prestigious Glenn Murcutt International Master Class in 2015 with a scholarship as an emerging woman architect from developing countries.
She is also teaching as an assistant professor at the Department of Architecture at BRAC University. She is invited to present her works, including a keynote speech, on an international platform. She was awarded an Erasmus Mundus Scholarship twice to visit Portugal as an exchange student of architecture. She is known for infusing artistic sensibilities and bespoke expressions of crafted materiality into public projects in challenging urban contexts that establish a profound connection with nature.
Practice Ideology
Studio Morphogenesis Ltd. is an architectural consultancy firm based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. This collaborative studio was founded in 2014 by a dynamic group of architects with specialised experiences and interests encompassing a wide spectrum of built and natural environments. Four architects of diversified backgrounds, Shahla Karim Kabir, Suvro Sovon Chowdhury, Minhaz Bin Gaffar, and Saiqa Iqbal Meghna, came together in a collaboration, and a studio of shared creativity was born with the intent to design and build things that will stand as examples of living in the tropical climate of the Monsoon Delta while simultaneously responding to the rapidly changing needs and desires of society.
The founders involve themselves in a constant search for a true sense of architecture and beyond that embraces the age-old wisdom of the land and transcends it into contemporary architecture and urban issues through a research-oriented studio culture. Within a short span of time, the firm has created a wide range of successful projects, including residential, commercial, industrial, civic, urban-scale landscape, and public projects in the pipeline. They have been awarded several accolades for their highly creative and responsive works, and their works are being published on national and international platforms.
The firm inclines towards unconventional, experimental, yet responsive works and believes in collaboration, discussion, and interactive association. By carefully observing and skillfully stimulating the socio-cultural impacts, Studio Morphogenesis architects engage themselves in a ‘morphogenetic’ process that embraces the ethos of cultural continuity combined with new thoughts and technologies to develop an aesthetic of perpetual.
