Layer 08 of 10 · The Ten Contextual Layers
What can be known and built — materials, technologies and tools of analysis.
The scientific layer concerns what can be known and what can be built: material properties and technological possibilities (Reza 2025). It includes the material intelligence of earlier builders (the founder describes early Buddhist monasteries in Bengal that responded to climate and used local materials such as terracotta (Reza 2025)) as well as contemporary tools of analysis.
New Contextualist writing gives particular weight to prediction. Data analytics, scenario planning and expert insight are presented as ways of anticipating future scenarios (Reza 2023c); big data and AI can model scenarios and forecast stresses if they are used responsibly (Reza and Nitu 2025), and their accuracy depends on an understanding of historical precedent (Reza 2025).
Published formulations name this layer differently: ‘scientific’ in 2023 and April 2025, and ‘Scientific/Technological’ in the ten-layer lens of September 2025 (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
Prediction depends on history: data and models are only as good as our understanding of past patterns. Example drawn from Reza 2025.
Ecosystems are a source of technical knowledge: mangroves dissipate wave energy, termite mounds cool passively. Example drawn from Reza 2025.
Data analytics and scenario planning help anticipate how cities and their needs will change. Example drawn from Reza 2023c.
Material properties set the limits and possibilities of form, from terracotta to contemporary engineering. Example drawn from Reza 2025.
Mohammad Habib Reza, Upama Das Nitu Context BD
Mohammad Habib Reza The Daily Star
Mohammad Habib Reza The Business Standard
Md Samiur Rahman Bhuiyan Workshop ‘Exploring New Contextualism: An Approach to Architecture and Urban Design’
Ongoing researchResearch programme
BRAC University, Dhaka, Bangladesh · Documented 2024
The further development of the approach at BRAC University, with greater emphasis on sustainability frameworks, nature-inspired design and proactive resilience.
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.
