Layer 07 of 10 · The Ten Contextual Layers
Where a place sits — its location, connections and regional influences.
The geographical layer situates a place within wider territories: its location, connectivity and regional influences (Reza 2025). It reads a site at scales beyond the plot: the delta, the region, and the routes of trade, pilgrimage and movement that connect it to elsewhere.
The founder offers an example from Bengal. Understanding the al, the raised earthen embankment crucial for agriculture and movement in the delta, informs approaches to infrastructure and settlement design in flood-prone areas: ‘a lesson derived directly from the geographical and historical context’ (Reza 2025).
Key research questions
Editorial summary Awaiting the founder’s approval Questions proposed by the editors
Editorial diagram Interpretation Relations proposed by the editors
Settlement patterns shaped by water and terrain persist across centuries, as the delta's earthen embankments show. Example drawn from Reza 2025.
Climate, topography and water systems set the conditions of settlement, above all in a delta.
Regional encounters produce hybrid cultures; Bengal absorbed Vedic, Buddhist, Jain, Islamic and European influences. Example drawn from Reza 2025.
Location and connectivity shape networks of movement; a neglected canal can become a transit route. Example drawn from Reza and Nitu 2025.
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’
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.
