Bengal Stream is the first exhibition in France to focus on the architectural scene in Bangladesh.
The East-West / North-South programme designed by arc en rêve in 2004 presented the essential purpose of architecture, giving people places to live, and placed creativity at the heart of the major issues facing societies as they turn towards the future. We observed at the time that dwelling solutions developed by populations in extreme conditions can inform the search for new modes of design to help us to build habitable environments here and now.
Climate, mobility, time, and living are the shared materials for any architectural project.
The architects Francis Débiédo Kéré (Burkina Faso), Junya Ishigami (Japan), Studio Mumbai (India) and Wang Shu Lu Wenyu (China), who have all honoured us with exhibitions, have taught us to look at the world in new ways and provide us with an inexhaustible source of inspiration.
Why organise a major exhibition on the architectural scene in Bangladesh, today in France?
The curators, Andreas Ruby and Niklaus Graber, refer to this country, the largest delta in the world, as a universal case study.
The high risk of flooding due to climate change in Bangladesh, and also the population explosion and mass exodus from the countryside towards the cities are the new challenges that local development bodies rise to with exemplary skill. This country, whose architecture used to be largely ignored, could become a global model for responsible architectural activism.
“Bangladesh is a global laboratory. All the negative effects of climate change can be seen there,” says Munir Muniruzzaman, former adviser to the president of Bangladesh.
Bangladesh has a lot to teach us, especially about the way our planet can adapt to rising sea levels. For the people of Bangladesh, this future is now present: the lost of soil is a reality.
Projects for floating schools and hospitals, structures built in two days with inhabitants, and whole villages raised to a higher level, are all examples of architecture that is able to respond to the inevitable.
The exhibition Bengal Stream presents over sixty projects demonstrating the extraordinary vibrant architecture scene in their country. Simplicity, adaptability, and an ability to cope with vulnerability are the collective strengths and values of architecture in Bangladesh.