$2,500 Vernacular Home

About The Entry

The $2,500 Vernacular Home is a sustainable house designed in Para Dash, the village of Modonpur, Bangladesh. Built with a budget under $2,500, including labor and materials, it uses only local resources: mud, straw, bamboo, bricks, and tin sheets. The home serves a family of four, parents and their son with his wife. To address Bangladesh’s hot climate and long monsoon season, the design uses a raised veranda, steeply pitched roofs for rain runoff, and a layout that ensures every room catches the breeze. Varying window heights on windward and leeward sides enhance ventilation. Clay pots from a nearby village are embedded in the tea house façade to cool the air through airflow compression. The house includes two bedrooms, a kitchen, a toilet, cow sheds, and a future child’s room. A weaving area for the daughter-in-law sits on the upper-level balcony, allowing her to stay connected to the family while working. The parents' tea house and shop are placed along the village road for accessibility and courtyard privacy. Due to limited electricity, 'liter bottles of light' are used on the roof to brighten interiors. Rooted in local knowledge, the design reflects true vernacular sustainability.