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Friendship Hospital wins The Riba International Prize 2021
The winners of RIBA’s biennial international awards have been announced. Friendship Hospital, designed by architect Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury and his studio URBANA in Bangladesh, is the winner of the RIBA International Prize 2021. The RIBA International Emerging Architect 2021 is awarded to Hooba Design Group for the Kohan Ceram Central Office Building in Iran.
The Friendship Hospital, an eighty-bed community hospital situated in a remote rural area of southwest Bangladesh, designed by Bangladeshi architect Kashef Chowdhury/URBANA, has won the RIBA International Prize 2021.
The low-cost building was designed to work with and withstand the tangible climate change effects of rising sea water in the surrounding area. A series of courtyards bring in natural light and ventilation, while a canal traversing the site collects valuable rainwater, since the groundwater remains unusable for most purposes. This channel of water adds visual relief, helps the micro-climatic cooling and provides a welcome distraction from the anxiety and unhappiness related to illness, for both patients and their relatives.
The Friendship Hospital, Satkhira was chosen from a shortlist of three exceptional new buildings by the Grand Jury, chaired by world-renowned multi-disciplinary French architect Odile Decq. Odile Decq said: “Friendship Hospital embodies an architecture of humanity and protection that reflects the Friendship NGO’s philanthropic mission to provide dignity and hope to communities through social innovation. Kashef Chowdhury/URBANA has achieved a building designed with a human touch which is deftly integrated with its surroundings and celebrates local, and traditional crafted materials. The hospital is very relevant to critical global challenges, such as unequal access to healthcare and the crushing impact of climate breakdown on vulnerable communities. It is a demonstration of how beautiful architecture can be achieved through good design when working with a relatively modest budget and with difficult contextual constraints. This hospital is a celebration of a building dedicated to humans.”
RIBA International Emerging Architect 2021
Hooba Design Group is the recipient of the RIBA International Emerging Architect 2021 for the project Kohan Ceram Central Office Building, in Tehran, Iran. The judges were impressed by the restraint, invention and elegance of the building, commissioned by Kohan Ceram Brick Manufacturing Company to design their headquarters.
