Nusrat Tabassum is an Architect from Bangladesh. Growing up she was always surrounded by artistic individuals and naturally grew interests in painting, singing, and dancing. Even though she possessed a passion for art, she had a profound love for science as well. When the time came to choose a track for higher study, she chose something that combined science and arts, and hence she chose architecture. The subject, which honestly, she was unsure about, became her favorite soon – interest started to grow to identify each and every detail about architecture. She became adept at model-making and started experimenting with design and building techniques. As her curiosity leaned towards technology, she learned various software, as she found doing laborious work that consumes a lot of time hampers her thinking process and, in turn, her productivity. After completing her B.Arch. in 2013 from Ahsanullah University of Science & Technology (AUST) in Dhaka, she started her professional architectural practice after being hired by one of the top design firms in the country, Tanya Karim N.R. Khan and Associates.
She always wanted to be an academician, but never without having practical experience in construction and knowing more than what she has learned in theory. While working as a full-time architect for four years and leading some major projects, she cultivated curiosity towards the building construction technology. She decided, after learning as much as she could about the conventional construction system of Bangladesh, she would go for her masters. She chose to go for a Masters in Advanced Architecture in the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IaaC), Barcelona, Spain in 2017. Once she finished her masters, she had immediately enrolled for a Postgraduate in 3D Printing Architecture (OTF) and worked as a Teaching Assistant in IaaC. Just after graduation in 2019 she came back to Bangladesh and joined the Military Institute of Science and Technology (MIST) as an Adjunct Lecturer and simultaneously establishing her own research team named Team Neuron Samaritans.
All of her academic experience in IaaC motivated her to learn about advanced construction methods and their possible applications. The research projects made her capable of handling and applying intelligent construction material, nature-based solutions, responsive architecture, advanced building technologies, additive manufacturing in sustainable architecture, sustainable material research, and digital fabrication. Her target is to gain as much knowledge as she can in this stream because she sees it as a pathway towards contributing to the progress of Bangladesh by introducing new and exciting construction methods in this developing nation and also provide significant involvement in the global research arena. She is now looking forward to attaining a Ph.D. in the same stream abroad. Her research interests include – Robotic construction and material strategies in digital fabrication i.e. potential of robotic fabrication and construction using locally sourced materials for the developing world.
Other than Architecture, she is passionate about photography, traveling, and fashion design. The part of traveling that excites her the most is to feel and explore different cultures, customs, and how well they are reflected by the architectural fabric. Architecture for her is not just a profession, it is an interpretation of civilization and she feels lucky to be able to experience it as in detail as she is able to.