Iffat Mahmuda Khan

Codifying Regenerative Design Approaches for Upscaling Disaster-Resilient, Livelihood-Inclusive, Affordable Net-Zero Homes in Bangladesh

Project Dates: September 9, 2024 – September 9, 2028

Iffat Mahmuda Khan is a Binks Institute of Sustainability Scholar.

Her research explores how regenerative design and vernacular innovation can be systematised to inform large-scale disaster and climate-resilient housing strategies in Bangladesh. By creating disaster-resilient architecture, drawing on ethnographic insights, and developing incremental housing models, her work aims to establish a practical framework that integrates environmental performance, social inclusion, and cultural continuity.

Key research components include:

• Documenting and codifying traditional and community-led housing practices through an ethnoarchitectural lens to preserve embedded resilience and spatial logic. This includes assessing formal and informal adaptation strategies through a critical review of community-based and institutional responses to disaster risks.
• Evaluating existing climate-adaptive housing typologies, both formal and informal, across disaster-prone regions globally to identify effective strategies and highlight limitations.
• Developing an incremental housing framework enabling low-income communities to adapt progressively, integrating livelihoods, affordability, and material sustainability.
• Proposing a typology and decision-making matrix for housing interventions based on environmental criteria, cultural fit, lifecycle costs, and scalability.
• Collaborating with institutions, NGOs, and local stakeholders to ensure practical relevance and policy integration, particularly aligned with UN SDGs 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities) and 13 (Climate Action).

By bridging global sustainability goals and localised lived experiences, her research contributes to a grounded understanding of how homes can become platforms for safety, dignity, and resilience.

Iffat holds an MSc in Integrated Urban Development and Design from Bauhaus University Weimar, Germany, and a Bachelor of Architecture from Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST), Bangladesh. She has previously worked with award-winning architects Kashef Chowdhury/URBANA in Bangladesh and Francis Kéré in Germany. Her professional experience includes architectural projects in the largest Rohingya refugee camp at Kutupalong in Bangladesh, alongside other urban and architectural projects in Bangladesh and Germany. She also co-founded transforma, a sustainability-driven initiative exploring circular design using recycled materials.