Indian Architect & Builder (IA&B)
Panigram Resort Pavilion: IA&B’s Young Designers Competition, Citation

Architecture is a multifarious process. There are scales to be negotiated, materials to be explored and places to be true to. And in the context of our sub-continent, this also means there are informal sectors, a completely diverse constructional dialect and red tape to maneuver around. Through all of this, there are firms both young and old, yet not so well-known that diligently persevere against these odds to build relevant spaces, in a dialogue that resonates beyond the constraints of the brief. These are the practices that need to be given their due, ones that tread the fine line between the contemporary and the meaningful every day and do it earnestly, ones that eventually become practices of consequence. In its 15th edition this year, IA&B’s Young Designers competition has constantly striven to showcase the importance of conscious design, in a time where the smallest act of building has global implications.

The Panigram Banquet Pavilion is a riverfront dining pavilion designed and constructed for an eco-boutique resort in rural Bangladesh using traditional and sustainable building methods and materials. The pavilion is delicately crafted at a human scale and also integrates itself with the contextual landscape, waterscape, transportation methods, and local village through its mix of innovative design and indigenous building practices. In addition to its original intention, the pavilion is also used as a park, a public gathering space, a secure storage space, an office, and a classroom.