Housing is one of the very basic necessity of every human being in the world. Everyone needs a home or shelter to prepare oneself for the economic struggle to meet other human needs in his own feasible way and live a convenient life. Housing has its own complex social and economic dimension which governs the physical patterns of a city, the qualities of collective living, and the health and well-being of the people. It is the key to enhancing the quality of life of the immediate dwellers and the overall city. World Bank estimates that Bangladesh will need to build at least 8.5 million new houses in the next five years to overcome the existing shortage in urban areas and most of its demand is to come from lower and lower-middle-income groups. When we are much busy catering to the privileged, our more than one-third unprivileged population is suffering from misconceptions and poor practices of housing design and construction. In terms of quality and safe housing which should be socially and environmentally appropriate, Bangladesh is way behind to provide so.

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‘Onushongo Bangladesh’ formed by a group of Architects is aimed to be a social enterprise providing affordable and safer housing design solutions for lower and lower-middle-income people. We came to formation winning the “urban innovation challenge 2018” organized by BRAC. Currently, we are involved in different social housing projects for lower-income people in different locations of Bangladesh, with government and non-governmental organizations like UNDP, BRAC, PKSF, and other local government entities.

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The mission of Onushongo Bangladesh is to solve the perpetual need of shelters for distressed or minor communities, upgrading the value of life through designing quality homes for poor owning a very small piece of land, and the huge number of lower-middle-income people who seek good house design; which ultimately leads us from slum or community up-gradation to affordable housing design solutions in urban areas. The difference with other designing organizations is that we aim to work for the underprivileged groups through a parametric housing solution, which is adaptive in nature engaging the social and cultural parameters with architectural and living standards parameters that affect the core of the housing system’s adaptability. We also engage architecture students, masons, financial organizations, and other authorities with the communities through workshops and thus this participatory approach from all disciplines helps us to provide our service quick, affordable, and contextual.

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Onushongo Bangladesh is dreams to provide an overall improvement in living conditions which will someday turn the housing into a social business, providing living solutions for the newly migrated marginal group in the urban and peri-urban areas, resulting in the mutual benefit of the existing and new marginal communities in a healthy manner. This healthy practice will ensure safe shelter for all enhancing the living quality leaving no one behind within 2030.