We are all familiar with the Dhaka University and its grandeur. Even now, when major infrastructures shroud the beautiful campus, its thousands of students still enjoy a little retreat among greeneries in, for example, Muktamancha or Suhrawardi Udyan. The same can also be said for all public universities. It’s on one such campus where BUET alum Khandaker Ashifuzzaman Rajon, Principal Architect of Cubeinside Design Limited, studied architecture. Of course, Rajon’s idea of a campus vastly differs from that of private university students. Thus, when tasked with designing a campus for Southeast University (SEU) well within the hustle-bustle of Dhaka, Rajon had to tumble down all his cards and think of fresh ways to give the students of Southeast University some taste of his own campus-going experience. The project being the permanent campus came with the additional worry of how to design the structure that would inspire students to enrol just looking at the place years, even decades, after its novelty factor has worn off.
But before we go further into Rajon’s and the Southeast University permanent campus story, allow us to tell you what it is about all private universities competing to move to their permanent campuses. Competition here is particularly good, as all private universities want a permanent campus that is the most student-friendly while being attractive. UGC, the University Grants Commission, recently stipulated that all private universities, without fail and exception, move to a permanent campus that facilitates students with open space, interactive classrooms, and all the amenities that university students abroad enjoy from a campus. So, that triggered the mass relocation of private universities to actual campuses in place of stuffy buildings. Rajon opened his story with the mandatory 50% open space policy in the rulebook for building a new permanent campus. “The idea of a cubic volume in the centre of the campus came from this rule. I wanted the rest of the structure to look over the open space as the centerpiece of the campus.
As a by-product, a central courtyard would help dissipate light and aerate its surroundings, like the classrooms, for example. However, the Board wasn’t initially unanimous about the central open space idea, but it was up on completion that they saw my vision behind this design choice, and this later became everyone’s favorite part of the entire campus,” began the architect. But beyond the Board’s stamp of approval, the campus just had to be completed and made fully functional within a very limited window of time, set by the UGC. If you happen to be a current student of SEU or have even visited the place, you may have taken a moment’s pause and thought of how it was even possible to erect an edifice as such in such a constricted amount of time. This is where the seasoned, but young, architect’s ingenuity just begins. If my memory serves well, I remember seeing in the popular cartoon show “Popeye: The Sailor Man” Popeye stacking floors upon floors of a skyscraper with steel I-beams, all in one shift, of course with the help of his special formula spinach, but steel I-beams were the actual hero that allowed for construction at such mind-boggling speeds. I am not inferring that Rajon got his hands on Popeye’s spinach, but being the well-bred architect that he is, he knew that I-beams would be an ideal instrument in his race against time.
He explained how: “All the brick and concrete facades of the entire complex give it the impression of an RCC (reinforced cement concrete) structure, but its basic skeleton is made of I-beams. This bought me time! I-beams, like Lego, just have to be joined together using nuts and bolts without trading modern looks for time or structural integrity, but we did trade off some extra money to be able to complete construction in time.” The mission he had in mind to let light dance around the entire complex with the help of a central open space was a massive success. As the structure was shaping up rather quickly, it was instantly visible that the same campus took on different faces because of the changing sunlight that entered at different angles at different hours of the day. As a creator, the play of light and shadow had Rajon all emotional when he laid eyes upon the outcome. “The place would change its look at the change of each season too,” he said. “A few of my acquaintances who study at SEU find the campus quite photogenic. As climates change, they post photos and reels of different parts of the campus on their social media, and from there, I get to observe, from an onlooker’s perspective, how the most important beneficiaries of the campus—who are the students—are lovingly accepting it and are also low-key boasting it on their socials.”
All this is to say that a structure made exclusively out of complex mathematics and engineering can also evoke emotions when made with the human angle in the mix. Ever since the permanent campus opened its doors to students in early 2023, the entire place teems with students in any direction imaginable. Not only is that the proper utilisation of space, but it also points towards the inevitable fact that students love their new campus. Everyone is doing what a student does: going in and out of class, singing, laughing, teasing, playing with classmates between classes, and most importantly, enjoying their newfound freedom in such a capacious facility that can house over 12,000 students at once! The former campus building is in the backyard of the new campus. It will be demolished soon and replaced by a new building to house the School of Engineering. It is to be designed by Cubeinside Design Limited as well. “But looking at the design of the new building and the one we just completed, no one will be able to say that the same architecture firm was behind the drawing board of the second one; it’s that different from the other!
This is because the new building was designed bearing in mind the surroundings, where there are warehouses, a mosque, and other industrial structures. The new building will blend into its surroundings,” teased Rajon. On the sidelines, a publication is underway regarding this very project, where the firm upholds the challenges faced and how they were overcome. Rajon affirms that this is a standard practice for international architecture firms to publish their projects, which remains a testament to global architecture posterity. His challenges were monetary, to begin with, and then there were the matters of choosing the right material, making efficient use of space, ventilation, and lighting without expending excessive utility, etc. Just as an architect’s job is to get to solutions through experimentation, Rajon has taken one challenge at a time and solved it. The SEU campus has air conditioning only in classrooms. The rest of the areas, like the terrace, corridors, and plaza, including the central void, are all naturally ventilated. What added to the challenge was how to construct one building that provides support to the myriad disciplines that will be schooled in the university. The needs of a physics laboratory will be very different from the needs of a civil engineering laboratory, but all that had to be comprised under one roof. Attention to these minute details eventually gave way to the finished product that is now the SEU permanent campus.
“A university campus has to be sustainable in monetary as well as practical terms. Choosing the right material, even down to the right furniture, was crucial to ensuring that the structure would serve sustainably down the line. Facing and overcoming these challenges have enriched us, and that’s why we want to publish about the project,” Rajon added. However, Rajon conjectured that the architectural profession in Bangladesh is not all about designing fancy, aesthetic buildings, and oftentimes there are certain obstructions in the way of practicing the trade according to global standards. What are these said obstructions?
The first issue, he says, lies with the clients not fully understanding the nature of the work that architects do. Besides being an engineering discipline, architecture is also a sub-group of art and culture, and it is of utmost importance to allow architects to exercise creative freedom while they are doing their job. Constantly asking how far along they are to completion or providing feedback that essentially does not help designing a structure in the true architectural practices only stalls them and kills time, which is precious little to any professional or any disciple who loves their job, like, of course, Rajon does. Client dealing often gets in the way of creative thinking. Without clients trying to micromanage, or, in other words, trying to do Rajon’s for him, his practice would be more pleasurable for him and, by extension, the entire architect community.
Southeast University proudly features three distinguished schools and an institute, offering a rich and diverse academic landscape. These include the School of Science and Engineering, the School of Business, and the School of Arts and Social Sciences, encompassing 10 departments : Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Textile Engineering, Architecture, Pharmacy, Business Administration, Economics, English, Law, and Bengali Language and Literature. With more than 12,000 students and over 400 experienced faculty members, Southeast University is dedicated to educational excellence. Beyond the classroom, they foster talent, creativity, and intellectual growth. Established in 2002, the SEU Urban Campus is 56,700 sq ft (5,270 m2).
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