Designing Bedrooms in Small Spaces: Proposal for a Substitute for Double-Decked Beds in Bangladesh
Abstract
A problem frequently encountered by the architects of the poor and developing countries is, how to design residences in minimum space. One common problem that such architects often face is the accommodation of large number of families on limited habitable land, especially in the urban area. The acute scarcity of habitable land in the busy cities is no more a new experience. For obvious financial benefit, there are reasons for the affluent people and overseas investors to become more interested in the construction of industries, shopping complexes, warehouses etc. and less so in residential buildings. The construction of roads, highways, sports complexes, parks, educational complexes, hospitals, powerhouses etc. by the government constantly exhaust usable virgin land. Thus while the number of families requiring accommodation is on increase, the land available for the purpose of their accommodation is on decrease. Such a reality compels the urban authorities to allot smaller plots for residential purposes, and consequently the architects face the problem of accommodating all the necessities of a family on limited space. The domestic needs of human being or family are on the increase. In such a situation people are being compelled to live in small-sized and inadequate number of rooms. Necessity is the mother on invention. Many inventions have come to light only because men felt the necessity. Devising new furniture, equipments, systems or technologies are the outcome of such necessities. This trend is not absent in the field of Architecture. This paper will present a proposal that may be taken to be a substitute of double-decked beds, suited to our socio-economic condition. The solution presented in this paper may find application in the architectural design of apartments, especially in constrained spaces.
References
1999: The problem of Architectural Design in Small Spaces. Bijon Behari Sarma in ARCHI TIMES, Karachi, Pakistan in Vol. 14, No. 5, May 1999 issue.