ACE Team 8 Blog

Here are some of the points my brother and I compiled about building materials in Islambag/Dhaka:

Pucca houses are strong houses. They are made up of wood, bricks, cement, iron rods and steel. Flats and bungalows are pucca houses. Such houses are called permanent houses.
Kutcha houses are made up of wood, mud, straw and dry leaves. A hut is a kutcha house. Some people live at one place for a very short time. They build houses that can be moved from one place to another. Such houses are called temporary houses.
Kutcha literally means raw or unripe
Very narrow
The city has many terracotta and clay structures (temples, mosques, etc.)
The origin of the bungalow has its roots in the historical Province of Bengal.[4] The term baṅgalo, meaning "Bengali" and used elliptically for a "house in the Bengal style".[5] Such houses were traditionally small, only one story and detached, and had a wide veranda were adapted by the British, who used them as houses for colonial administrators in summer retreats in the Himalayas and in compounds outside Indian cities.[6] The Bungalow style houses are still very popular in the rural Bengal. In the rural areas of Bangladesh, it is often called Bangla Ghar (Bengali Style House). The main construction material used in modern time is corrugated steel sheets. Previously they had been constructed from wood, bamboo and a kind of straw called Khar. Khar was used in the roof of the Bungalow house and kept the house cold during hot summer days. Another roofing material for Bungalow houses has been red clay tiles.

this link is to an article about a factory near Dhaka that collapsed possibly because of poor construction and foundation

metal siding (very rusty) , concrete, NO glass, brick, tarps
concrete without proper footing- piles
in the more “industrial” area, there are 4 story buildings with both stores and housing
garbage and waste piled on the streets
why so unused bricks piled on the streets?- possibly a brick manufacturer close by

Monday, January 11, 2016