Whenever "Korail" comes to mind, the word that follows next is "bosti" (urban slum). However, there's more to it than meets the eye. Housing about 80,000 people from various districts, the community is one of the largest low-income settlements in Bangladesh and home to residents who work as domestic helpers, office assistants, businessmen, drivers, rickshaw pullers, security guards, janitors, and vendors.

Paraa is a research-based design and architecture studio, focusing on enhancing lives and spaces within the communities in Bangladesh and beyond through multi-disciplinary practice. Their experiential exhibition, "Hoichoi: Engage, Interact, Play" captured the life and culture of Korail, created and curated by the students of CADSE (Critical Architecture Design Sustainable Environments), the 2024 Winter School developed by Paraa.

It was structured around a practical case study, resulting in realised projects through the student's time on the programme. These case studies focused on a project, placing learning through doing, at the centre.

Every installation and artwork encapsulated how the neighbourhood operated and how it shaped the lives of the people. From birds chirping, people clamouring or tins clanking, as captured in the "Korail Kechal" audio clip to the "Cha er Tong" with its television airing a PSA on gender-based violence, the exhibition engaged the senses to make us feel as if we were are standing right there.

They also weaved in some humour to simple aspects of life, for instance, installations like the 'Shobji Shomachar' narrated the internal monologues of the popular home-grown vegetables sold at the markets of Korail.

This year, the school focused on Korail — City of Culture, a project by Paraa and Goethe-Institut, Bangladesh, working on building an inclusive play space and cultural hub for the people of Korail, by the people of Korail!

"Korail — City of Culture" was an initiative in sustainable urban development, supported by the Creative Economy Programme of the Federal Foreign Office (Germany), in conjunction with the Goethe-Institut Bangladesh, Paraa, and German partner, Floating University Berlin.

The project worked closely with young people, a mix of young men and women, along with elders from the community leadership, to train, develop and build a publicly accessible place using the Ershad Maath.

The young people were being taught to research, document, lead and develop a network that could sustain the place after it was built. The overall idea was to build a new cultural space in the heart of Korail and produce a cultural festival that will focus on design collaborations, within the community, with the city, and with International design partners — Floating University Berlin.

The exhibition was unveiled on 24 May 2024 and continued until 7 June at the Shala Gallery at Aloki.

Shaluk Islam is a resident of Korail, a jute artisan and a participant in the CADSE. She first started her research wearing T-shirts, which raised questions such as: "What does 'play' mean to us"? or "Which areas ensure women's safety for playing?" After documenting the answers received from the neighbourhood, she observed the different alleyways to determine where children play the most.

"In the first week, we conducted a survey and in the second week we prepared a model based on the results of the survey. The data collection encouraged us to find out every little detail of Korail, from dawn to dusk. We tried understanding what 'play' means for people of all ages and what are the different mediums of 'play'," she explains.

Just like participant observation, they spent their weekends with Korail's inhabitants and explored the environments in which they lived and the materials used to build their surroundings.

Shaluk's jute crafts were also on display at Aloki, along with other artisans from Korail.

"I was in class nine when I learned it. Our teacher personally taught us how to do it from scratch, as a part of our practical course. When we buy rice for our home, we weave the designs onto them. For us, this was a common practice, but Neebir apu told us that these crafts hold value outside Korail," she shares.

Now that she's participating in CADSE, Shaluk hopes to connect the jute artisans of her community to the mainstream market to empower them financially.

"During our workshop in an exhibition, we taught 20 people how to make jute crafts; I want us to be able to tailor bags out of jute and sell them in future," she says

Shaluk owes it to Paraa for enabling her to conduct research like architects. Under their tutelage, she learned how to promote her community's practices and cultures.

 Anamul Haque Shagor shared that Paraa wanted to see a model built for Korail, by the residents of the community.

"The research led us to conduct surveys to learn about the painters, masons, and plumbers in the area to make the model. After this, we started making a model out of bamboo, which showcased the previous model we had worked on in 2021. Only a few people knew about that, so we showcased our work through two to three exhibitions to reach a wider audience," he says.

Eventually, they demonstrated it to the people of the community — its leaders, Geothe-Institut to emphasise on what Korail is and what their future aspirations are for the neighbourhood.

"The three months of workshop under CADSE taught me skills in photography; additionally we were able to discuss our model with faculty members from BUET. Other things included lessons from performance artists, which is helping us prepare for the festival so that we can also perform.

"None of us are from the architecture background, but after being a part of Paraa and CADSE helped us learn a lot of basic things. We now know how to improve our lives based on the lessons learned from these collaborations," he emphasises.

Anamul feels more confident after being a part of Paraa and CADSE, it has given him the confidence to socialise with people.

"I have become more enthusiastic about activities and am able to converse with stakeholders coming from different cultures and industries," he concludes.