New Contextualism: An architectural philosophy for deltaic Bangladesh

Written as the author prepared to present the approach at the State Heritage Conference 2025 in Perth, Australia, the essay presents New Contextualism as ‘a critical framework’ rather than a prescriptive style, developed over more than a decade at BRAC University.

It sets out five tenets: forward-thinking design anchored in prediction; historical grounding as foundational knowledge; holistic context understanding through a ‘tenfold matrix’ (the most explicit published definition of the ten dimensions); balancing the universal and the particular through hybridisation; and designing for adaptability and resilience. It then describes New Contextualism 2.0, with four areas of emphasis: nature-inspired design, deep sustainability integration, alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals and proactive resilience.

The essay discusses heritage as a living continuum and illustrates the approach with academic proposals for Chawk Bazar in Old Dhaka, the Al-Cazaba in Spain and Alpana Gram in Chapainawabganj.