Marina Tabassum Becomes First Bangladeshi Architect to Win Aga Khan Award Twice

Bangladeshi architect Marina Tabassum has made history by winning the prestigious Aga Khan Award for Architecture for the second time. She was honored for her design of Khudi Bari (“little house”), a climate-resilient, affordable, and portable bamboo-and-steel housing solution built for communities displaced by riverbank erosion and flooding across Bangladesh.

Named among seven recipients of the 2025 award, Khudi Bari exemplifies thoughtful innovation, offering two-storey dwellings that elevate inhabitants safely above floodwaters while remaining easy to assemble, disassemble, and move as needed. The jury commended its “profound ecological vision” and the way it redefines the role architecture can play during global crises.

Previously, Tabassum earned the Aga Khan Award in 2016 for the Bait ur Rouf Mosque in Dhaka, an understated yet spiritually uplifting structure celebrated for its use of natural light and minimalist tradition-inspired design. With Khudi Bari, she once again showcases architecture’s power as a humanitarian response.

Her achievement drew heartfelt congratulations from Bangladesh’s interim Chief Adviser, Professor Muhammad Yunus, who praised her for demonstrating how design can embody “dignity, resilience, and human ingenuity.” He remarked that her dual recognition places Bangladesh prominently in global creative and social innovation.

The winner announcement took place in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, and marks Marina Tabassum as the first Bangladeshi architect to win the Aga Khan Award for Architecture twice, a rare feat on the international stage. Alongside her, six other projects from across Asia and Africa received the award in this cycle, sharing a total prize pool of US$1 million.

Sources: The Business Standard, Prothom Alo, New Age