What my research proposes is that there is a holistic and basic connection between the flow of water and dwelling. Through focusing on water flow, urban informal dwelling and materials, a transient form of dwelling is examined. As physical and ephemeral beings, people dwell in relationship to context, connected by their memories which are associated to physical materials and landscapes. As memories become layered over time, they become part of a cultural memory. This larger cultural memory is part of developed social patterns. Water is the basic element of life, both a giver of life and a taker of life. So as people become more transient through displacement or a search for a better life, memories become more associated with the temporal than the permanent landscape. Water then becomes the material of dwelling.

The thesis aims to deal with the complex problems of water contamination, flooding, water collection and a large displaced population in the dense urban fabric of Dhaka. In order deal with these complexities, the research and project seeks to reconcile the micro and macro connections between elements in changing water flow and dwelling, and the blending of infrastructural, architectural and biological solutions. The project aims to empower those impacted to help create solutions. These solutions and connections would be gained by using local and found materials to remediate and create structures, a human reef.  The slow additive creation of remediation and change by those who dwell in the affected areas creates an embedded memory in both physical material and in the culture of site. The change over time is accumulated by those who build and dwell, as well as by the water which flows continually from the sky and water bodies.