METI School, Bangladesh, Image by Kurt Hörbst

"For me, sustainability is a synonym for beauty." -Anna Heringer

Three projects in Bangladesh bring to light a new handmade approach to sustainable building. These projects emerge organically from local materials and needs and are built by hand by local laborers who learn new construction methods, offering an elegant alternative to the trend toward buildings made from western materials such as cement and steel. These designs for a school, vocational center and single-family homes reaffirm that “progress” can involve improved living standards without sacrificing the ecological and economic integrity of traditional craftsmanship.

In Bangladesh, where western-influenced structures have gained favor among the growing middle class, Anna Heringer’s designs integrate old and new as in the 2008 DESI Building, a vocational school for electricians that is distinct for being the first earthen structure in Bangladesh to have indoor plumbing. It is also powered entirely by solar energy. Also designed by Heringer - in partnership with local architecture students from BRAC University in Dhaka, Bangladesh and students of BASEhabitat, Linz, Austria - three model houses for low-income Bangladeshi families use local, sustainable materials such as coconut fiber for insulation, and bamboo for everything from stairwells to latticed screens that protect the homes’ exterior earthen walls from rain erosion. The two-story rather than single-story structures save land for agriculture. And Heringer made traditional mud homes more durable through improved building techniques, including damp proofing, a hardy foundation of earth, ferrocement and clay, and the use of water and rice-straw for the walls. Cows, rather than machinery, do the mixing.

Heringer’s vanguard designs in Bangladesh are creating new interest in earthen and local building materials within the architectural community. She and her studio, BASEhabitat, have received many queries from non-governmental organizations as well as government officials in Bangladesh, South Africa, Mozambique, and other parts of the world, seeking to adapt her ‘handmade” process locally.

“People are becoming interested now in finding their own solutions, not just copying the West,” said Heringer, who currently lectures at University of Art and Design Linz and is completing doctorate studies at the Technische Universität München. “What I hope is that we’ll be able to set a trend in a fresh and regional architectural style that motivates people to bring their traditional construction methods.”

Anna Heringer first gained recognition in 2007 when she won the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture for her ingenious design of a primary school in rural Bangladesh that combined modern construction techniques with traditional, locally available materials such as bamboo sticks, earth, and straw. The light-filled, two-story school building is the revelatory manifestation of Heringer’s belief that “joyful living is a creative and active process. I am deeply interested in the sustainable development of our society and our architecture. For me, sustainability is a synonym for beauty.”

Anna Heringer

Architect and Visiting Professor
BASEhabitat – studio for architecture in developing countries/
University of Art and Design
Linz, Austria