In December, Dhaka transforms as the Bangladesh-China Friendship Conference Centre becomes a living forum for architecture. From December 11 to 13, Bangladesh Arch-Summit 2025, organised by the Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB), brings together students, practitioners, academics, and international voices under the theme ‘Crafting Space, Shaping Habitat,’ framing architecture as a dialogue with land rather than domination. The Summit positions architecture as both cultural responsibility and professional pursuit, expanding discussions to ethics, climate, memory, and belonging.
Alongside the Summit, the IAB Build Expo 2025 animates space with materiality and innovation, showcasing sustainable materials, technologies, and construction solutions, bridging the gap between professionals and the public.
Across forums and plenaries, architecture emerges as a climate responder, a social mediator, and a cultural storyteller. Discussions range from sustainable urbanism and rural revitalisation to dense city challenges, material innovation, and community-centred design. International speakers from the US, China, India, Thailand, and South Korea join national voices to address shared environmental and regional concerns.
The exhibition PEOPLE | PLACE | PRESENCE highlights context-driven projects, connecting memory and inhabitant needs. Youth engagement features the Young Citizens’ Painting and Open Photography Competitions, alongside Student and Youth Forums, fostering early spatial awareness and curiosity. The Honourable Advisor to the Minister of Education, Professor Dr Chowdhury Rafiqul Abrar, underscores architecture’s future-shaping role, echoed by the first meeting of the Architects’ Association of South Asia.
Bangladesh Arch Summit 2025 prioritises attentiveness over conclusions, urging architects to listen to land, people, and uncertainty. Architecture’s truest calling, it shows, is not to impress but to endure, not to dominate space, but to care for habitat.
