Understanding Context.Reimagining Futures.
An architectural and urban design philosophy exploring the relationships between people, place, history, culture, ecology, and the built environment.
01 The Idea
Every place is shaped by visible and invisible forces. Histories, social relationships, cultural practices, ecological processes, political structures, and everyday life contribute to the meaning of the built environment.
New Contextualism approaches architecture and urbanism through these interconnected conditions, seeking a deeper understanding of place and the possibilities for meaningful transformation.
Editorial summary Awaiting the founder’s approval
‘Context, in the New Contextualist framework, transcends the immediate physical site.’
02 The Framework
The founder’s writing describes context as a ‘tenfold matrix’ of overlapping dimensions. None is read alone: each is entangled with the others, and every project weighs them differently.
Dimensions and their terms from Reza 2025. The relations traced here are an editorial interpretation.
03 In Practice
Theses, studio projects and competition entries in which the framework has been applied, documented from published sources. The drawings that accompany them are abstract editorial plates, not drawings of the projects.
No built works have yet been documented on this platform.
Conceptual proposalUndergraduate thesis
Panatirtha, Jadukata riverfront, Sunamganj, Bangladesh · 2023
Reimagines a riverside pilgrimage site, traditionally visited once a year for ritual bathing, as a civic landscape alive in daily life as well as in ritual moments.
Conceptual proposalUndergraduate thesis
Kallyanpur canal, Dhaka, Bangladesh · Documented 2025
Frames a neglected urban canal as a civic spine, combining flood management, community access and boat transit within a transit-oriented development.
Conceptual proposalThesis and studio project
Chawk Bazar, Old Dhaka, Bangladesh · Documented 2023
Reimagines Old Dhaka’s historic Chawk Bazar as a layered spatial narrative, merging memory, commerce and community.
Conceptual proposalInternational competition entry
Gateway of India precinct, Mumbai, India · 2024
A competition entry reimagining the Gateway of India precinct as a civic sanctuary, anchored by a sunken memorial cube and two symbolic axes.
04 The Origin
New Contextualism was originated by Mohammad Habib Reza, an architect, architectural historian and Associate Professor at the School of Architecture and Design, BRAC University, Dhaka.
In his account, the approach grew from early work as an architect-planner for the Barisal City Corporation and from doctoral research on the early Buddhist architecture of Bengal, and has been developed over more than a decade in teaching at BRAC University (Reza 2023b; Reza 2025).
Editorial summary Awaiting the founder’s approval Compiled from published sources
Selected writing and lectures
05 The Archive
Essays, lectures and reports that make up the published record of New Contextualism, alongside the founder’s earlier scholarship. Every record has a persistent address and a full citation.
16 records · 7 types · 2008–2025
Mohammad Habib Reza, Upama Das Nitu Context BD
Mohammad Habib Reza The Daily Star
Mohammad Habib Reza The Business Standard
BRAC University BRAC University News
Arch-Bangla Arch-Bangla
06 The Community
New Contextualism has developed through design studios, workshops, lectures and symposia, and through exchange between practice and academia.
This platform is intended as a place for that dialogue to continue, across disciplines and between local conditions and wider systems. It is not a membership organisation; the ways to take part are set out below.
Proposed statement Awaiting the founder’s approval
