In the heart of Dhaka’s bustling Tejgaon, Southeast University (SEU) has achieved a remarkable milestone with the completion of its new campus. Spanning 30,670 square meters, this modern educational facility is not only drawing in more students each semester but also setting new standards for urban campus design. SEU’s new campus, created by Cubeinside Design Limited, stands out as a monument of creative architectural solutions.
The goal of the SEU campus was to transform a former industrial area plot into an aesthetically beautiful and student-focused setting. The architects had a formidable task in trying to fit the vast needs of the university into a little amount of land which is a very common setback for the private university campuses in Dhaka. Due to this limitation, the campus was designed with an emphasis on vertical expansion, featuring a central nucleus or vertical void that acts as the school’s hub. This core area serves as a catalyst for community development and student involvement in addition to being an architectural component.
Visitors are welcomed by an inviting grand entrance through a well-planned road setup furnished with seating areas and a small garden, The centre void, which unites many facets of campus life, is accessible from this inviting place. In order to create a sense of cohesion and community among the 12,000 students, the vertical design makes sure that classrooms, labs, and other formal spaces are grouped around this central hub.
Principal architect of Cubeinside Design Limited, Khandaker Ashifuzzaman Rajon, stressed the value of incorporating informal spaces in addition to standard learning environments. “We wanted to create an infrastructure where students can put emphasis on lateral learning,” Rajon said. “Traditionally speaking classrooms often do not attract students, so we gave informal space equal importance, if not more.” This philosophy is demonstrated throughout the campus, where terraces, bridges, and corridors are artfully designed to encourage social contact as well as ensuring required physical mobility. There are several of informal areas on campus where students can hang out and socialize.
These spaces are arranged in a way that makes it possible for students to relax or interact with friends nearby at all times.
With its many dimensions and hierarchical spaces, the central void improves the campus’s visual and physical connectedness, lets natural light into the centre of the building, and fosters a lively, dynamic atmosphere.
Utilizing daylight and natural ventilation is one of the SEU campus’s most notable aspects.
The campus’s energy efficiency is increased by the deliberately designed voids and ventilations, which encourage horizontal air circulation. The halls and other areas are naturally ventilated, which uses far less energy than air conditioning, with the exception of the classrooms. With double glazed laminated glass roofs that maximize natural light and reduce heat transmission, the campus is oriented to allow 95% of its space to be exposed to direct daylight.
The campus’s facilities are arranged with consideration. A game room, canteen, stationery store, and administrative offices are among the shared spaces located on the first floor. Important administrative offices, such as the registrar’s, admissions, and vice chancellor’s offices, are located on the first level. The library and a multipurpose auditorium are positioned on the eighth and ninth levels, respectively, with the other floors devoted to classrooms, labs, and informal student spaces.
With its modern layout of black ceilings, white metal, and wood-based workstations, the library is a student heaven complete with discussion areas and an electronic library. With 600 seats, the ninth-floor auditorium is a flexible venue for a range of activities. All nine floors are easily accessible via elevators, which improves staff and student mobility.
The SEU project was approached by Cubeinside Design Limited with a focus on both cost effectiveness and sustainability. The company was able to lower construction and long-term maintenance costs by utilizing locally sourced materials and widely available construction techniques. This financial restraint guarantees that the university can provide students with a top-notch education without charging them outrageous tuition.
A thorough grasp of the requirements of contemporary students is evident in the architecture of SEU’s new campus. The architects have designed an environment that promotes intellectual and personal progress by giving priority to informal spaces and cultivating a sense of community.
A prime example of how educational institutions can prosper in crowded urban settings is the vertical campus, with its central void and interwoven spaces.
Tejgaon’s new Southeast University campus is a stunning example of architectural mastery. It
offers a lively, stimulating setting that improves the whole educational experience in addition to satisfying the practical needs of an expanding student body.
Thoughtful architecture can create spaces that inspire and connect even in the land-scarce most crowded cities, as seen by SEU’s campus design, which gives a model for future improvements in urban education as Dhaka grows.
Cubeinside has grown to become one of Bangladesh’s most well-known architectural and interior design practices, following its founding in 2009 by a group of young architects with similar goals. Cubeinside has shown their great aptitude for architectural design along with their vast expertise in interior designs as well. Residential, commercial, institutional, religious, hospitality and retail are just a few of the categories they have worked on. Winning numbers of national design competitions and getting commissioned for those notable projects has added feathers on their excellent portfolio. Being coherent to the project nature, keeping it rational to the functional requirements and extracting the aesthetics out of that is what making them distinguished among the others in the same trade. Khandaker Ashifuzzaman Rajon, Ahmed Firoj Ul Hoque Robin, Md. Sharifuzzaman Sajal and Shakhawat Hossain Rocky are the principals, leading the talented and enthusiastic team of Cubeinside for a greater architectural scene in Bangladesh.
