Marina Tabassum: Architect extraordinaire

Prospect, a monthly British general-interest magazine, has selected Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum to be in its list of top 50 thinkers around the world in the time of Covid-19.

According to Prospect magazine, Marina is embracing the design challenges posed by what we are collectively doing to the planet, and is at the forefront of designing and creating buildings in tune with their natural environment.

Marina is well known for designing the Bait Ur Rouf mosque in Dhaka which won the Aga Khan award for architecture. In 1997, she won a prestigious national competition and was jointly responsible for designing the Independence Monument of Bangladesh and the Liberation War Museum with Kashef Mahboob Chowdhury.

After graduating from Buet in 1995, Marina started working with architect Uttam Kumar Saha. During that time, most of the projects they worked on were profit-oriented real estate projects of residential buildings around Dhaka.

A year later, Marina decided that her vision of architecture was far broader than only profit-making. She started her own practice and chose projects which allowed the use of quintessential elements like light, air and, therefore, the presence of contextual architecture - elements that preside over her work to this day.

The list in which Marina's name has been placed was developed by Prospect by drawing on the advice of distinguished experts in various fields who have written for them over the years - and then whittled it down to 50.

Besides Marina, notable names like New Zealand's premier Jacinda Ardern, British natural historian and environmental activist Sir David Fredrick Attenborough, American actress Greta Gerwig, South Korean filmmaker Bong Joon - Ho, Oxford vaccinologist Sarah Gilbert are also in the list