Monsoon Pontoon was my entry to the Kingspan Microhome competition, developed around the brief for a compact, 25m² off-grid dwelling. Since the competition didn’t prescribe a site, I expanded the brief with my own guiding interests. The aim was to identify a situation where the microhome typology could serve as a genuine intervention, rather than a prefabricated solution in search of a problem. This led me to explore how such a model might respond to the realities of life in flood-prone regions like Bangladesh, where communities face the threat of seasonal flood-related displacement.

The result is an amphibious home that rises and settles with the water. Built from readily available materials, it’s simple to construct, durable, and grounded in traditional building crafts; a structure that embodies both optimism and resilience in its expression.

Competitions like this one push me to test ideas beyond the limits of everyday practice and explore how architecture can respond to global issues in a grounded, meaningful way.