Layer 02 of 10 · The Ten Contextual Layers
How a place carries meaning — traditions, beliefs, aesthetics and rituals.
The cultural layer concerns how places carry meaning: traditions, beliefs, aesthetics and rituals (Reza 2025). It resists what New Contextualist writing describes as cultural homogenisation, the ‘anywhere city’ of glass towers, shopping malls and flyovers in which local materials, traditions and narratives are sidelined (Reza and Nitu 2025).
Culture is not treated as a stylistic repertoire to be copied. The approach favours hybridisation, filtering global knowledge ‘through the lens of local climate, materials, craftsmanship, cultural norms, and aesthetic sensibilities’ (Reza 2025). In the Panatirtha thesis a philosophical tradition, Advaita or non-dualism, shaped the spatial form itself (Reza and Nitu 2025).
Key research questions
Editorial summary Awaiting the founder’s approval Questions proposed by the editors
Editorial diagram Interpretation Relations proposed by the editors
Shared practices, rituals and everyday routines are how communities sustain their culture in space.
Heritage, craft and ritual can sustain local economies, as pilgrimage and community-based tourism show. Example drawn from Reza and Nitu 2025.
Memory and ritual accumulate as layers of meaning; routes between temple and settlement can become the skeleton of new design. Example drawn from Reza and Nitu 2025.
Regional encounters produce hybrid cultures; Bengal absorbed Vedic, Buddhist, Jain, Islamic and European influences. Example drawn from Reza 2025.
Beliefs and rituals inform spatial organisation; in one thesis, non-dualism shaped interwoven courts. Example drawn from Reza and Nitu 2025.
Mohammad Habib Reza The Daily Star
Mohammad Habib Reza The Daily Star
Mohammad Habib Reza, Athena Rahman Esempi di Architettura
Mohammad Habib Reza, Upama Das Nitu Context BD
Mohammad Habib Reza The Daily Star
Mohammad Habib Reza The Business Standard
Tanjina Khan Workshop ‘Exploring New Contextualism: An Approach to Architecture and Urban Design’
Md Samiur Rahman Bhuiyan Workshop ‘Exploring New Contextualism: An Approach to Architecture and Urban Design’
Mohammad Habib Reza Gangeya Janapad
Mohammad Habib Reza Esempi di Architettura
I. Ahmed, Mohammad Habib Reza (eds) Copal Publishing Group
S. Bandyopadhyay, G. Quattrone, M. F. Goffriller et al. Ministry of Heritage and Culture
Mohammad Habib Reza The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences: Annual Review
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 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.
Conceptual proposalUndergraduate thesis
Jamuna Future Park, Dhaka, Bangladesh · 2022
Reimagines a large commercial complex as a civic hub, opening its spaces to pedestrian networks, green corridors and social programmes.
Conceptual proposalConceptual proposal
Andalusia, Spain · Documented 2025
A conceptual proposal to revitalise a layered Islamic fortress complex as a hub for interfaith and cultural exchange.
Conceptual proposalAcademic design proposal
Chapainawabganj, Bangladesh · Documented 2025
Envisions a traditional rural settlement celebrated for its Alpana art as a sustainable, community-managed tourism destination.
Ongoing researchTeaching and thesis supervision
BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh · Documented 2023
The use of a ten-layer reading of context in design and thesis studios at BRAC University, from which most documented applications of the approach have emerged.
