Palli Karma-Sahayak Foundation (PKSF), in collaboration with the Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB), is set to launch an Open Architectural Competition for the Design of Climate-Resilient Rural Housing. The initiative aims to promote resilient and affordable housing solutions in climate-vulnerable areas of Bangladesh.

To this end, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between PKSF and IAB today at PKSF Bhaban-1 in Agargaon, Dhaka. The signing ceremony was presided over by PKSF Managing Director Md. Fazlul Kader. The MoU was signed on behalf of PKSF by Deputy Managing Director Md. Hasan Khaled and on behalf of IAB by its General Secretary, Architect Dr. Masud Ur Rashid.

The competition aims to develop affordable, safe, environmentally friendly, and practical rural housing designs for disaster- and climate-vulnerable areas of Bangladesh.

Design proposals will be invited, taking into account the geographical and environmental characteristics of the country’s coastal areas, haor, wetland regions, chars, floodplains, hilly and Barind regions. From among the submitted designs, PKSF will select the 10 best housing models suitable for practical application at the field level.

Under the Resilient Homestead and Livelihood Support (RHL) project, implemented by PKSF with funding from Green Climate Fund (GCF), more than 3,500 climate-resilient houses have already been constructed across seven coastal districts of Bangladesh. Building on this experience, the new collaborative initiative is expected to contribute to more effective measures to improve housing conditions and strengthen the overall resilience and adaptive capacity of marginalized communities.