INBETWEEN HETEROTOPIA AND SIMULACRUM: VERNACULAR LANGUAGE OF COURTYARDS IN BANGLADESH’S ARCHITECTURE

• Main Author: Ar. Sayed Ahmed
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Saint Petersburg State University of Architecture and Civil Engineering 2019-12-01
• Series: Architecture and Engineering
• Subjects: courtyard; bengal architecture; conception of space; heterotopia and simulacrum.
• Online Access: https://aej.spbgasu.ru/index.php/AE/article/view/255/144

Introduction: The courtyard was perceived by generations just like a religious act in Bengal delta. Even the community cohesion of the courtyard space was repeated and maintained in the township context, which neither belongs to agricultural nor working class but rather to educated elites with western zest. How has this unique feature been evolving and why is the appeal still the same today? Is the courtyard’s permeability just the ‘in-between space’ or was it derived from the aspiration of philosophical legacy? Methods: The study uses a twofold method derived from solid-void relationships. Firstly, eastern and western philosophical discourses were compared, and the extensive literature review is presented. Secondly, historical evidence and logics behind the courtyard’s position from micro to macro scale, from household to city formation is presented and analyzed in the philosophical context. Results and discussion: From a very complex lattice and layers related to architectural philosophy, two important figures of western world, Baudrillard and Foucault’s ideas proved crucial to comprehend how an image of the courtyard remained constant and how it is empowered as a core space from the socio-cultural and functional views. The result affiliated western objectives and eastern subjectivity.