April 26, 2025
Mr. Rana Pratap Singh
Your Ref No : FC-22
Project Name : Vacation House, Dhaka
JK AYA Ref : 21st AYA
Written text, informations, drawings and photographs as required for publication of the fifth volume of Book dedicated to 34 years’ winners of JK AYA under Foreign Countries category are provided herewith.

VACATION HOUSE
1. WRITE UP
Architect’s note on the design
The Vacation House is located on a 2.0 acres of land about 40 kilometers north of Dhaka city. A narrow approach road to the site on the north connects the site with the main thoroughfare of the area (Bhurulia) a quarter kilometre away. The land was purchased by late father of the client in early 1950s. The land was rural and agricultural until 1980s, where from it began to grow into a suburban area with settlements of low middle income families. But on the south and west sides of the site there remains huge sprawl of agricultural lands and trees. The rough contour of the site with irregular potholes was developed with earth filling to achieve a proper elevation. An existing small water body in the site was also excavated and developed into a pond with proper shape and sloped edging. Excavated earth from the pond was used for earth filling of the site as well.

The client, a modest industrialist and a resident of Dhaka city desired to have a four bed room house for weekend use of his family of four members. Although the site is large enough, in order to keep the footprint of the house minimum, a three storey walk up was selected. Flower and fruit trees with green foliages are planted at the peri ferry of the site while the building is placed at the centre at a high point with grass lawns around. The house is connected with the pond with steps in brick and platform like spaces for the users to enjoy the water. Steps are locally known as “ghat”, a very common feature for an abode on the bank of a river or beside a pond in Bangladesh. A single Kath Golap (Plumeria Rubra) flower tree on the ghat area along with play of light and shade evoke dramatic experiences throughout the day.
The design of the Vacation House developed on an asymmetrical compact cubic form has been intended to create an adorable impact on the site and surroundings as well as to provide a tranquil atmosphere for living experiences. Although the design has been developed on abstract principles of modern design (dots, lines and planes) a Palladian sense of geometry and good proportion (without symmetry) is also considered. Transparency, solid and void of the three storey cubic structure are created out of the consideration of climate (air flow, heat loss, soothing light, etc.) as well as for visual effects. The house is built on RCC Frame structure with non-load bearing brick walls as enclosure. The design is developed on a 12m by 12m (40’by40’) square plan form with 14 columns of 38cm by 38 cm (15” by 15”) size each. Columns have individual RCC footings with grade beams. Non-load bearing machine made (ceramic) brick walls have been placed at a plane 51 cm (20”) beyond the outer surface of the building (not as filler walls within the planes of the RCC frame) in order to express clearly what is structural and what is not. Whitish grey fare face structural concrete and exposed ceramic non-load bearing walls not only have created a pleasant visual contrast but also enhanced an honest expression of construction materials. There is no plaster or paint in the entire building (walls, columns, beams and ceilings) inside and outside to avoid superfluous cosmetic treatment of any kind. Thus construction materials are transformed into finish materials. As a result the users of the building have the opportunity to enjoy a primordial sense of raw beauty and freshness.

The Vacation Home has maintained a consistent architectural vocabulary in all aspects of design. Four sides of the building are treated with equal emphasis as if the building has four front sides. Cross ventilation is achieved in all internal spaces. Terraces in first and second floors on the south side of the building shaded with ribbed beams are provided to enjoy varying tropical weather throughout the year.
Columns are casted with an instalment of 76cm (30”) height with 1.5cm by 1.5cm groove. These grooves in the columns give a sense of scale and order. Burma Teak is used for all wood work including doors, internal windows, stairs and cabinets. Aluminium windows are used only on external surfaces for climatic reasons. Stainless steel members are used in railings with teak rail.
Since the owner of the house uses the building only on weekends, outdoor spaces including the ghat remain open to the visitors from neighbouring communities five days a week between 4.0 pm to 7.0 pm. The private house thus is transformed into a community facility creating a positive social impact on the neighbourhood around the project.

2. PROJECT DATA
a) Title of project : Vacation House
b) Type of Building : Private Residence
c) Year of completion : 2009
d) Period of execution (in months) : 27 Months
e) Location (village/town/city & State) : Bhurulia, Gazipur, Dhaka
f) Site area (in sqm) : 8094.0 sqm
g) Built-up area (in sqm) : 524.0 sqm
h) Project cost (in Indian Rupees) : Building=8.00 million (INR)
Landscape + Ghat=6.00 million (INR)
Land Cost=2.00 million (INR)
i) No. of floors (including basement) : Three (03). No basement floor.
j) Client (Company/Person) : Md. Abdul Majid (Industrialist)

3. PROJECT TEAM
a) Design Architect : Shamsul Wares
b) Structural engineers : Dr. M.A. Rashid (Building) and Fazlul Hoque (Ghat and Pond)
c) Electrical engineer : A.K. Azad
d) Plumbing & Sanitation : Shamsul Wares
e) Landscape design : Shamsul Wares
f) Interior & Furniture : Shamsul Wares

4. Contractors
a) Civil work : Md. Ekramul Hoque
b) Plumbing & Sanitation : Motahar Ali
c) Electrical : Monir Hossain
d) Carpenter (Wood work) : Md. Abdur Rab
e) Land Development : Md. Ekramul Hoque

5. DRAWINGS
a) Site Plan
b) Floor Plans and Roof Plan (4 nos)
c) Sections (4 nos)
e) Elevations (4 nos)

6. PHOTOGRAPHS (In Colour)
(All the photographs are taken by Architect Shamsul Wares between 2009 and 2011)
a) External Views : 21 images
b) Internal Views : 18 images
c) Details : 10 images

Note: We are aware that the above data will be edited for the proposed publication.
Shamsul Wares
Architect