Aarong’s Dhanmondi outlet is making waves not just for its size but for the way it transforms shopping into a multi-sensory celebration of heritage and design. Claiming the title of the world’s largest craft store, it stretches across 60,000 square feet and spans eight floors. But it’s an experience, a journey through Bangladeshi heritage, craftsmanship, and modern design, all under one roof.
Designing for Aarong was about shaping a cultural mission, not just a building. The interiors weave color, texture, and spatial flow to honor rural artisans, tribal patterns, and generations of craft. Movement through voids, escalators, and lifts mirrors the rhythm of weaving, making craft not only visible but experienced in every detail of the architecture. Ribbons are intertwined (weaved) with each other connecting the glorious past and the vibrant present. The building that creates a bond between the generations, crafts and the souls, inspires the future generations embracing the ever-demanding adaptability.
The vision behind this landmark comes from Patrick D’Rozario, principal architect and managing partner of Synthesis Architects Ltd along with his Design team members-Ar. Tanvir Hassan (head of design) and Ar. Nahid Akram. With over two decades of experience, D’Rozario and his team are known for understanding the local soil, blending culture with design, and creating spaces that people love to experience. Their goal is always to touch hearts, reflect local heritage, and use modern technology and techniques, including AI, to push architecture forward. The Dhanmondi project was not the team’s first with Aarong. Fifteen years ago, they designed the Uttara flagship. For the Dhanmondi project, they focused on one idea: weaving.
Weaving is at the heart of Aarong’s craftsmanship, and the architects wanted to implement this into the building itself.
The basic element of weaving is thread, but they transformed it into the concept of a ribbon. The building itself flows like a ribbon, combining this idea with the natural fluidity of concrete. Ar. Patrick quotes, “A narrow strip of fabric a ‘ribbon’, has been manifested into the fluid concrete surface of the building to embrace the fluidity of the urban life-bridging the century old tradition to the 21st century urban dynamism’.Turning such a vision into a functional store was a challenge, but the result is a space that feels alive and moving. The ribbon acts simultaneously as an outer shell and an inner precinct. The store is designed for smooth, easy movement. From indoor corridors to outdoor spaces, every area allows visitors to explore without interruption. Minimalism in materials is balanced with creative, flowing shapes, giving the building a modern yet warm feel.
Aarong here is more than a store, it’s a cultural landmark. It bridges heritage with today’s global demands,
capturing the timeless essence of the brand while remaining modern and fresh.
Inside, the store comes alive with art installations celebrating Bangladeshi craft, a four-story Nakshi Kantha, a Clay Pottery Wall blending tradition with modernity, and Alchemy, a copper and glass centerpiece casting a magical glow. Alongside, visitors explore handcrafted textiles and artisanal décor, making the experience world-class.
The design emphasizes simplicity, using limited materials with durable manual casting techniques accompanied with the unique process of shuttering works. Public areas like lobbies, corridors, and staircases were built to manage festive crowds, with easy-to-clean, low-maintenance finishes resulting into the combination of handmade technique with the ultra-machine made touch. Special lighting enhances both day and night ambience, while aluminum and metal facades help reduce heat gain.
The challenge was significant: building such a large store on half the land available, while keeping it functional and comfortable for visitors. The internal voids, escalators, panoramic lift, ceremonial stair create a continuous space to perceive it whole with details in focus. Patrick D’Rozario notes that buildings can only handle so much, overuse can affect performance. The limitation of the plot size and code requirement put constraints to find a large plate for display which certainly hinder the overall horizontality of the store (customer’s point of view) and limiting the no of visitors at a time (especially on big festivals). But Aarong Dhanmondi was designed to welcome crowds, to let people enjoy shopping in a lively, festive way.
The blend of architecture, art, and design has turned Aarong Dhanmondi into more than a flagship, it’s a cultural destination. As Patrick D’Rozario notes, the building sparks enthusiasm and impact, offering visitors an experience to remember and share which adds to create an impulse coming back and back again. Here, heritage and modernity, craft and design merge into a space that invites people to explore, connect, and celebrate Bangladeshi culture.
