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<\/p>\n\n Featuring tranquil courtyards, pond-lined walkways and a facade bursting with tropical plants, a rug factory in Bangladesh has claimed one of architecture\u2019s top prizes.\n <\/p>\n
\n Green Field Factory, a seven-story textile facility in the northern city of Rangpur, won the prestigious RIBA International Prize on Thursday, with judges calling the building a \u201cwork of quiet humility.\u201d\n <\/p>\n
\n Set across more than 144,000 square feet, the factory was commended by the award\u2019s organizer, the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA), for integrating greenery into its design. Landscaped gardens, verdant verandas and a main wall draped in plants helped \u201cbring nature directly into the workplace,\u201d the organization said in a press release.\n <\/p>\n
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\n The Bangladeshi firm behind the project, Nakshabid Architects, was inspired by traditional Bengali homesteads, which are typically interspersed with courtyards and ponds.\n <\/p>\n
\n The biennial prize often honors community-focused projects, rather than eye-catching icons, and it was the architects\u2019 focus on the approximately 5,000 \u2014 mostly female \u2014 employees that attracted particular praise from the jury.\n <\/p>\n
\n Amenities for workers include a rooftop daycare center, on-site medical practice and shady areas to socialize. A large statue of a female figure, which the architects said represents the \u201cstrength of women\u2019s empowerment,\u201d stands at the facility\u2019s entrance.\n <\/p>\n
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\n According to RIBA \u2014 whose judging panel visited the site in September \u2014 employees often use the factory\u2019s amenities with their families outside working hours. The project presented an \u201calternative model for factory design and operation,\u201d the organization added.\n <\/p>\n
\n Bangladesh is among the world\u2019s largest textile producers, though conditions in the country\u2019s factories are an ongoing concern among labor rights groups. In 2013, Rana Plaza, a nine-story building crammed with garment factories outside the capital Dhaka, collapsed <\/a>killing 1,100 people. The disaster resulted from cultural as well as structural failures: factory workers\u2019 safety concerns had been ignored, with many forced to return to the building after cracks were discovered.\n <\/p>\n \n In stark contrast, Green Field Factory\u2019s design prioritized employee wellbeing and challenged \u201cingrained social hierarchies,\u201d RIBA said. In his citation, jury chair Bijoy Jain pointed to the huge central entranceway used by employees, managers and owners alike (in Bangladesh, it is common for laborers and senior staff to enter large factories via separate entrances), calling it an \u201cequanimous shared portal.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n In a statement published ahead of Thursday\u2019s announcement, Nakshabid Architects\u2019 founder and principal, Bayejid M. Khondoker, said he had wanted to \u201cprove that industry can breathe, nurture and inspire.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n \u201cWe asked a simple question: What if a factory were designed first as a home for the people who work in it?\u201d he is quoted as saying. \u201cEvery courtyard, garden, water body and shaded verandah grew from that question. A factory should not be a machine that consumes human energy. It should be a living place that restores it.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n Green Field Factory is operated by Karupannya Rangpur Limited, which, as well as handmade rugs, produces textile items like doormats and bathmats. It was one of two Bangladeshi projects on the prize\u2019s four-building shortlist, alongside the climate-responsive BRAC University<\/a> in Dhaka. The other two finalists, both in Belgium, were a thoughtfully renovated 1960s office building and a recently expanded art institute.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n \n Although only founded in 2016, the RIBA International Prize is arguably the most prestigious accolade awarded to a single building. Typically held every two years (although the Covid-19 pandemic disrupted this schedule), the prize honors projects that demonstrate \u201cvisionary, innovative thinking and design excellence.\u201d\n <\/p>\n \n The prize was last awarded in 2024, when it was won by a six-story timber social housing project in Barcelona, Spain. Other previous winners include a school in rural Brazil, a university in Lima, Peru, and a serene hospital<\/a> in a remote, flood-prone area of Bangladesh.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Featuring tranquil courtyards, pond-lined walkways and a facade bursting with tropical plants, a rug factory in Bangladesh has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":631756,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[442,498,499,500,501,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-631755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=631755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/631755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/631756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=631755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=631755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=631755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/green-field-factory-nakshabid-architects-rangpur-bangladesh-picture-credit-mud-canvas-8.jpg\")
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