Maintaining the local identity and cultural format of a workplace in terms of its expression requires a unique vision when designing a commercial building, particularly one that acts as a catalyst of change during a process of globalisation. The Courtyard project, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, is set in the politically challenging socio-cultural context of the Bangladeshi culture, which requires innovation as it accommodates a global business model, but also introversion in terms of interaction, climate and security – all within the framework of the workplace typology. Working on this project enabled Morphogenesis to broaden its understanding of the workplace typology within a new cultural context.

The building sits as a perimeter block with a strong narrative of references to the courtyards of the Mughals and of Islamic architecture. The building’s concept is the purdah (veil), its external skin is a jaali screen derived from original patterns of Islamic architecture. This veil opens just slight enough for people to know that there is a world beyond, illuminated by the courtyard steps that provide a symbolic processional ascendance through the space. The geometry of traditional Islamic patterns are reinterpreted into the jaali-inspired façades in a contemporary, modern and responsive manner. Geometric tessellations refine the variable scale of façade densities within it, depending on orientation and levels of solar incidence. This facade filters light and regulates temperature within the building whilst ensuring the desired levels of privacy and security.

The landscape story subtly carries the backbone of spiritualism, of the ceremony of moving through this enclosure, marking a progression from the chaos of the city through to the serenity of the inner world; a place to contemplate and rejuvenate. Yet, it is diagrammatically responding to a modern graphic language of an urbanscape. It arrives at a common vocabulary: of a corporate minimalism, still replete with tradition and memory to reflect Bangladeshi identity, ensuring users feel like a part of the global community.