A two week long architectural exhibition Water in Light by architect Rafiq Azam is going on at the Bengal Art Lounge and will continue until May 16. Three architectural models and plans of the international award winning architect is on display at the exhibition. One of the main attractions of his designs are the elements of nature integrated into the models which shows the architect’s “green” thinking, his innovative mind and his talent of creating clean/contemporary spaces.
Rafiq’s designs of modern and environment friendly homes have the cutting-edge look and feel, yet the adept artiste has also incorporated rural typologies in the urban context in his models. His architectural vocabulary is kept simple and essential, with traditional spaces like the courtyard, pond/ghat and ample internal/external greenery that merge both the urban and the rural. In one of his designs, he has placed a swimming pool that is surrounded by the house, thus creating an open green-space right at the centre of the house. His avant-garde work emphasise the interrelationship between form and space.
A visionary artiste, he promotes green society by constricting building which intervenes with nature. He explains: “The human form has two parts - the body as shell and thoughts as soul. Architecture is similar, the building manifests as the shell and nature as its soul.”
At the inaugural ceremony on May 2, the architect said: “Architecture is not just about poetry. It is about responsibility.”
About Rafiq’s reconstruction of natural elements in the urban context, Ainur Nishat, Vice Chancellor of BRAC University said: “With the changing climate brought on by rapid urbanisation, we need architects who are innovative, and work to create sustainable architectural pieces like the works of Rafiq Azam.”
Prior to the opening of his exhibition, Rafiq Azam’s book, Architecture for Green Living was launched by the Skira-Bengal Foundation on May 1 at the lounge. About the book, Architect Benninger said: “Rafiq Azam’s poetry is in his architecture. This book is his story.”
