Following the displacement of nearly one million Myanmar nationals who sought refuge in Bangladesh in 2017, the Government of Bangladesh initiated a major infrastructure programme to develop Bhasan Char island as a safe, fully serviced transitional settlement for Forcibly Displaced Myanmar Nationals (FDMNs). MDM Architects was appointed as onshore consultant, responsible for the complete architectural, structural, civil, electrical and plumbing design — as well as construction supervision — across the entire development. 

The scope of MDM’s commission is among the most extensive in the practice’s history, encompassing the full design and supervision of a self-contained settlement including 1,440 cluster houses and 120 shelter stations engineered to withstand wind speeds of up to 260 km/h and provide protection against flooding and storm surges. 

Specialist facilities within the development include a UN building, a General Administration and RRRC building, Law Enforcement Agency buildings, schools, mosques, a lighthouse, security houses, administration buildings, two hospitals and four community clinics. Infrastructure works encompass a fire station, a charging station for battery-driven vehicles, a biogas plant with compost processing and waste management facilities, two helipads, fuel storage for 500 metric tonnes, a 1 MW solar plant, a 2 MW generator house, solar-powered street lighting, warehouses for relief and material storage, an internal road network in HBB and RCC, drainage and storm drainage networks, perimeter fencing and watch towers, a semi-permanent bazaar, a playground and a graveyard. 

This landmark project demonstrates MDM’s capability to deliver complex, large-scale infrastructure under demanding conditions, with a direct humanitarian impact for hundreds of thousands of people.