“The Big Disconnect - An architect design for whom?”

 As we are graduating soon, it is one of the vital questions to us, for whom we will design?

“Citizen Architect: Samuel Mockbee and the Spirit of the Rural Studio” reminds me about one of the undergrad projects that I have worked on “low-cost housing”. In that semester our whole studio worked with an NGO on rethinking and redesigning for the poor citizen. It was one of my great experiences staying for a month with a small low-income community, facing their living challenges, understanding their needs and adapting to the environment, and in the end, designing for them. The rural studio that I have encountered gave me a sense of reality and the real world. The experiences that I earned from that studio are enriching and so satisfying. It’s an unreplaceable great feeling.

Rural Studio | Brac University | "low-cost Housing" (c) Uniza Rahman

As in the architecture school, most of the time we are inclined toward designing fantastic but horrible buildings rather not focusing on affordable buildings which are most in need. The concept of the rural studio should be more practical rather than theoretical. As we are moving toward the professional, I believe besides designing for the rich, we should also need to consider designing for everybody. This notion will not just help us to make this world a better place but also will encourage us to take challenges of an idea about comfort and thinking perspectives of living.