In an attempt to decolonise Architecture’s role as a static, time-defying pursuit, we focus on the fluidity of Bangladesh’s geoinformation that is culturally an integral part of how we live. Learning from the land and people, we try to find solutions to adapt to the changing contexts facing sea level rise. Mobility and temporality are the realities of our time. Through the presentation, I will share experiences, stories, and the expanding agency of architecture.
Temporality and Architecture
Talk by Marina Tabassum
Marina Tabassum
Marina Tabassum is a Bangladeshi architect and educator. She graduated from the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in 1995. Among her important works are the Independence Museum and the Independence Monument of Bangladesh, designed in 1997 during her partnership with URBANA. She founded the Dhaka-based Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA) in 2005. In her work, Tabassum seeks to establish a language of architecture that is contemporary yet reflectively rooted in place, guided by an ecological rubric that considers climate, context, culture, and history.
Tabassum is a Professor at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and has received an honorary doctorate from the Technical University of Munich. She has also served as the Academic Director of the Bengal Institute from 2015 to 2021. Tabassum currently chairs the Trustee Board of the National Museum of Bangladesh. She is also the founder and chairperson of the Foundation for Architecture and Community Equity (FACE).
Marina Tabassum is a two-time recipient of the Aga Khan Award for Architecture: in 2016 for the Baitur Rouf Mosque and in 2025 for the socially engaged project Khudi Bari. She was named one of TIME magazine’s 100 most influential people for her socially engaged work in women’s empowerment, marginalization, climate justice, and architecture.