The significance of BIM and how Bangladesh has embraced it.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) is a 3D modelling system that allows for the creation of a virtual representation of a building or structure. It provides improved cooperation and communication between architects, engineers, contractors, and other project stakeholders by utilizing a shared digital model of the building.
The design, components, materials, and systems of the building are all thoroughly described in the BIM model. With this data, it is possible to recreate the building’s many features, including its energy use, lighting, and airflow. The danger of expensive delays and rework can be decreased by using the model to identify potential conflicts and design flaws early in the project timeline.
A survey conducted by the United Kingdom’s National BIM Report in 2020 found that BIM adoption had reached a high level in the country, with over 73% of respondents using BIM on projects, up from 43% in 2014. Bangladesh, one of the world’s least developed nations, is not effectively exploiting BIM’s advantages in construction project management. The lack of skilled labour and technology, as well as the local regulatory environment, are two of the key causes. Besides, clients’ contributions to adopting BIM on projects are less important in the construction industry in Bangladesh.
Not only are we highlighting the current level of BIM implementation in Bangladesh, but we are also identifying the challenges to using BIM on a daily basis. As technology advances, the use of BIM in construction management is likely to become much more common. From tiny domestic improvements to major commercial complexes, BIM may be used in a wide range of construction projects. Hence, as the industry continues to develop and adopt digital technology, it is anticipated to grow more significantly in Bangladesh in the future.
Date: 23 February 2023
Viability of Green Building in Bangladesh
– Winston Churchill
Today we are marching through an era of modern technologies, and these are going through development day by day, making our lives easier. Some, i.e., TV, cellular phones, cars, etc., have brought revolutionary changes in our daily life, whereas some, like atom bombs, advanced war weapons, etc., have brought destruction and misery to some nations. Moreover, some are acting as slow poisons that are gradually pushing the living beings, especially the animals, towards fatal diseases, even death. They directly strike on the environment, making it vulnerable for us. For example, chemical liquids and by-products, without purification process, are harmful to water bodies. Even various types of buildings can play a vital role in damaging the environment by having an unplanned waste disposal system. To solve the above problems, “Green Building” is a solution to turn our traditional buildings.
A Green Building uses less water, optimizes energy efficiency, conserves natural resources, generates less waste, and provides healthier space for occupants throughout the building’s lifespan compared to conventional buildings. It is also known as green construction or sustainable building. It contributes to saving the environment by fighting against global warming and reducing pollution, wastages and preserving raw materials, energy, and water, and maximizing the whole life-cycle performance of the buildings.
The Housing and Building Research Institute (HBRI) took the first initiative for the First Government Green Building in Bangladesh in 2007. The name of the first project of this initiative was The Eco-Housing Project and Ar. Md designed this project. Nafizur Rahman. The HBRI drafted the protocol for green building in 2012 with the help of IFC-world bank, and this year, a new topic on Energy Efficiency and Sustainability was also added in BNBC. Ar. Md. Nafizur Rahman drafted the Building Energy and Environment Rating System for Bangladesh in 2018 for the Sustainable and Renewable Energy Development Authority (SREDA). In the private sector, the EPIC group constructed the first green building in Bangladesh in May 2011. Bangladesh Green Building Council founder Sanwar Azam had worked to unify the stakeholders towards a greener country since 2008. He also offered a centralized board to offer Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certifications to the projects and firms interested in the same purpose. He proposed a voluntary rating tool that is much cheaper to attain and suitable to its socio-economic conditions and germane to its building environment and construction culture. By 2012 the Ministry of Public Works began to study the energy and water efficiency and emissions reductions with the World Bank through Green Building Codes.
Some technical features can be used to make a building green as well as a self-powered building. They are,
- Rainwater harvesting systems are usually placed on the roof and collect rainwater to flush toilets.
- Solar panels are used to heat bathwater.
- Wind turbines can be used to generate electricity.
- Rainwater channeled into water butts can be used to water plants or wash cars.
- Composting techniques for food scraps and biodegradable materials can be used to reduce waste and make the garden soil fertile.
- Dual-flush toilets help conserve water with controlled water outlet options, etc.
- Electrochromic smart glasses can be used to harness energy or shield the home from heat.
There are still some obstacles in the way of constructing green buildings. Firstly, it is expensive to install the technologies mentioned above in the building. Secondly, there is a lack of public awareness and political support to uphold this revolutionary project. But these problems can be tackled if the government and the Citizens can see from this point of view that green buildings can save 25-35% of total energy and 39% of water compared to conventional buildings. And this thinking is essential to an effective result to our country’s environmental, economic, and social sectors.
Date: 17 January 2021
Déjà Vu: A Mysterious Game Of Subconscious Mind
Have you ever encountered a situation where you felt like you went through the same situation before and somehow surprisingly knew the same consequences? It is called déjà vu, and almost 97% of the world’s population faces this experience at least once in their lifetime.
The term déjà vu, introduced by Emile Boirac, is French meaning “already seen”. People experiencing this phenomenon describe it as a strange sense of being familiar with something that they should not be previously. It occurs suddenly, but is temporary, and fades away rapidly. This incident is observed at a higher rate in people 15 to 25 years old than in any other age group and the rate of its occurrence decreases gradually with age increment. Why does it ever take place? This illusion is caused by the connections of dysfunctionality between the parts of the brain that are responsible for the recollection of memory and familiarity. There are a couple of factors that trigger it. They are,
- Recalling of words;
- Remembering the visited places;
- Recognizing people, etc.
Déjà vu is normal and it happens a few times a year in a person’s regular life. Besides, this wonderful and interesting incident is second to none as it gives him a hunch of both good and unpleasant circumstances so that he might become aware of the consequences.
Date: 22 November 2022
Do we need to have the knowledge of aesthetics in our life?
From the very beginning of human civilization, people have always been concerned about some basic needs of their daily life and shelter is one of them. Not only are people building shelters to live in but also they are trying to embellish the beauty of them. If we look at some ancient human civilizations like the Parthenon in the Athenian Acropolis, Greece, the Maison Carrée at Nîmes in France, the Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, etc. we can see the implementation of the concept of aesthetics. Aesthetics were also used in the ancient structures to uphold the significance of various events and memories. Moreover, though aesthetics is a branch of philosophy, it is not confined to literature only. The concept of aesthetics is widely used in various engineering sectors especially in Building Engineering. The aesthetics of a building is one of the principal aspects considered in architecture. The appeal of a building covers the combined effects of a building’s shape, size, texture, color, balance, unity, movement, emphasis, contrast, symmetry, proportion, space, alignment, pattern, decoration, culture and context. Indeed, it is absolutely true that we need aesthetics in our life to make it more meaningful, and to learn from the knowledge of ancient civilization to make our today’s infrastructures ecologically friendly.
First, we need to know what aesthetics is and what its characteristics are. The word aesthetics comes from the Greek word “Aesthesis” and it means to perceive the tangible world, realize its nature and spirit and assimilate its inner beauty. Different scholars and artists have given their opinions about the term aesthetics. For Aristotle, it is poetics and nature of beauty and art; for Socrates, it is to educate man by state control; for Leonardo Da Vinci, to examine the relationship of nature and art, etc. In a word, aesthetics is the art of thinking beautifully and it is a branch of philosophy that explores the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It studies how artists imagine, create and perform works of art; how people use, enjoy, and criticize art; what happens in their minds when they look at paintings, listen to music, or read poetry, and understand what they see and hear. It also studies how they feel about art, why they like some works and not others, and how art can affect their moods, beliefs, and attitude toward life. In other words, it is a critical reflection on art, culture and nature. And actually, the specifications of aesthetics are implicit in its definition, for example, it makes man think beautifully, it educates man to perceive the meaning of art, etc.
Date: 31 December 2020
Women Safety in Present Days
Our Creator has created both men and women and He has also made a balanced ecosystem for them to get all the things they need and granted them to live with dignity and peace. But have we ever wondered why He has created both men and women? He could have created either men or women to live in this beautiful world and He could have made many more of either men or women afterwards. This is a question that can help people to realize some serious matters regarding the curbing of women rights in this superstitious society filled with wrong concepts. Women must have some important roles to play in this world otherwise the Creator wouldn’t have created them. But He has also given them the rights to live with honor. Anyone cannot just come to snatch this right!! But nowadays, many women are getting harassed in different ways and manners and sometimes they are being pushed towards the end of their lives that, in some cases, can cause them serious injuries or even death. Lifestyle and perspective of people should be embellished with the time but in this modern 21st century, the brutality among the people, who are mentally abnormal and look down towards women, is getting increased at a drastic rate. The safety of women is now a burning question among the people.
Everyday when we open the newspaper or the news channels on the tv, we see frequent cases of women molestation. A survey is given below which was carried out from July 2013 to June 2014 in 1143 cases of victims of violence against women who underwent treatment at OCC and the burn unit of Dhaka Medical College. Among the subjects, 63.78% belonged to the age group of 16 to 30 years, 19.16% belonged to the age group of 1 to 15 years, 16.27% belonged to the age group of 31 to 45 years and 0.79% belonged to the age group of 46 years or more. Among them 71.91% were married and 25.63% were unmarried, 1.49% were widows, and 0.96% were divorced. Most of them were housewives and the rest were students and maid servants. There are many reasons behind the violence against women. They were, dowry (32.72%), familial conflict (32.54%), sexual assault (19.16%), extramarital relation (11.20%), others (3.06%) and domestic violence (1.31%). In recent times, another type of violence that has swept away the sleep from the women is Rape cases. This type of violence is growing at a rapid rate in our country. For example, on 9th October 2020, a man was arrested for raping his 12-year-old speech-impaired niece in Narayanganj. How much BRUTAL a person can be that compels him to take advantage of the helplessness of a crippled girl?? Another example of brutality was the murder of Nusrat by burning alive by a committee of fanatics of a Madrasa. And the list of oppression against women gets longer day by day.
There are some serious reasons behind these types of violence. Some are highlighted below:
- Most of the people in our country still think that women are just for taking care of the children and doing the household works and they must be dominated. And they cannot speak over men even though they don’t get their deserved rights.
- Infiltration of indecent cultures of other countries to our country.
- The vulgar perspective of mentally abnormal men towards women.
- The weakness in the law and order system, etc.
It is high time, the government as well as the sincere citizens took some strict and necessary steps to obliterate violence against women. Some of the steps are discussed below:
- The Law and order should be stricter about the punishment of the culprits and the rapists should get sentenced to death by the court.
- There should be more police officers on the road and they should always be careful about any kind of crime happening around them.
- The girls should carry pepper spray with them for self-defense. Moreover, they can keep the nearest police officer’s number on the speed list of their cellphone.
Date: 23 October 2020
Feasibility of Online Learning in Bangladesh
Our world has seen various types of pandemics and epidemics like Great Plague of London: 1665-1666, Spanish Flu: 1918-1920, AIDS Pandemic and Epidemic: 1981-Present days, West African Ebola Pandemic: 2014-2016, Zika Virus Epidemic: 2015-Present days, Covid-19 Virus or, Coronavirus: 2019-Present days, etc. from the very beginning of human civilization, and she had to bleed much more than our imagination fighting them and she is still fighting with some of them and coronavirus is at the top of the list. It has already cost 11.9 lakh lives, and only 2.96 crore people out of 4.58 crore people got cured of this devastating enemy. It has also put an outrageous effect on the systems of different educational institutions and has taken many of the students’ lives. In Bangladesh, various educational institutions got immobile and the education process suddenly became static due to this pandemic. But the question is “Will this pandemic be able to make the educational system come to a longer halt??” There is an answer to the above question and that is Online learning or Online Education.
Bangladesh needs to switch to an online education system to overcome the present static situation. In a survey conducted by the University Grants Commission (UGC), it was revealed that at present, there are 46 autonomous and public universities in Bangladesh and around 825,000 students study in these universities, and 375,000 study in the 105 private universities. Besides, a large number of students also study in the colleges registered under various government universities. Many private universities have already started taking classes and exams online. In that survey, a total of 86.62% of higher education level students in the country have smartphones, but many of them are facing problems like the internet and related expenses. However, primary and secondary classes are being taken on the Sangsad Television channel and some colleges are switching to online classes, too. In another online survey conducted by Citizen’s Platform for SDGs, Bangladesh, a news agency UNB from 18 to 27 October 2020, we came to know that around 28% of youths aged over 18 left studies to support their families due to financial crisis during this situation of the prevalence of the Covid-19 pandemic throughout the country.
There are some common barriers students in our country are currently facing regarding online classes. They are given below,
- Technical issues like unstable internet connection, the high price of data packages, load-shedding, etc.
- Distractions for study by inconvenient situations;
- Lack of vis-a-vis interaction between teachers and students;
- Financial crisis;
- Mental stabilization problems because many students’ family members are infected by Covid-19.
Some tactics are given below that could be considered to solve the above problems.
- The students who are unable to buy smartphones should be provided with soft loans without interest to buy smartphones for being able to join online classes.
- The authorities of the universities should make a contract with the sim operator companies to reduce the price of data packages.
- Students should make their daily schedules properly according to the class routine and remain isolated during class time.
- The poor students should be introduced to various stipends from the government.
- The infected families of the students should be mentally supported.
The government should not let this stationary condition of education stay any longer. If the steps to start online learning are not taken immediately, then it would not be too late to avoid a huge session jam.
Date: 31 October 2020