Author: Zainab Faruqui Ali, PhD Professor and Chairperson, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Bangladesh zainab@bracu.ac.bd Co-author and Corresponding author Emmat Ara Khanam Ema Lecturer, Department of Architecture, BRAC University, Bangladesh khanam.ema@bracu.ac.bd Zainab Faruqui Ali is a professor and the Chairperson of the Department of Architecture at BRAC University, Bangladesh. She holds a B. Arch degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), USA and a PhD from The Architectural Association School of Architecture, (The AA) London, UK. Zainab has been teaching, researching and practicing architecture for the past 30 years. She has taught at the Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET), Eastern Mediterranean University North Cyprus, and at Imam Abdulrahman bin Faisal University (IAU) Saudi Arabia before returning to BRAC University. Zainab has researched the environmental performance of the buildings in the Indian subcontinent designed by Le Corbusier and Louis I. Kahn. She was the lead researcher of an extensive research on the thermal performance of traditional buildings of Saudi Arabia, which was pioneering research in KSA. She has delivered lectures as guest professor on sustainable architecture, Islamic architecture, participatory community services and disaster management at MIT (USA), KEIO University Japan, University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) USA, American University in Beirut (AUB) and AIA Illinois Chapter USA. Zainab has been the member of Jury boards of several design competitions including the IAB award and CAA student competitions award. She has supervised master’s and PhD theses on Sustainable urban design in Saudi Arabia, Environmental performance of traditional buildings in Yemen. She has recently completed the examination of a PhD thesis on ‘Urban design related to housing policy of Saudi Arabia’ at Delft University, The Netherlands and is currently supervising PhD thesis on ‘Renewable energy in Yemen’ at the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), USA. Zainab has published a number of papers in refereed journals on environmental design, and has attended numerous conferences and seminars on various topics such as passive and low energy architecture, solar energy, architectural education, climate change and disasters. She has co-authored a monograph titled Muzharul Islam Architect, on the pioneer of modern architecture in Bangladesh. She has been a technical reviewer for the Aga Khan Award for Architecture since 2007. Emmat Ara Khanam is a Lecturer in the Department of Architecture at BRAC University and a practicing architect. Emmat has graduated from Ahsanullah University of Science and Technology (AUST) with a Bachelor of Architecture degree in 2017. Emmat is deeply involved in research and actively participates in various programs within the Open Society University Network (OSUN). Her research interests include architectural design theories, community-led participatory processes, the built environment, and sustainability. Beyond her academic and professional work, she is committed to voluntary activities and team management, underscoring her dedication to both her profession and her community.