Bangladesh: From the Graveyard of Ships, to a New Architecture

“If we forget for a moment that a steamship is a machine for transport and look at it with a fresh eye, we shall feel that we are facing an important manifestation of temerity, of discipline, of harmony, of a beauty that is calm, vital and strong. […] The steamship is the first stage in the realization of a world organized according to the new spirit.”

Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture

WHY

In the 1920s, Le Corbusier famously considered ocean liners the epitome of engineering beauty and an inspiration to modern architectural design. The expansion of maritime trade in the past century means that currently hundreds of large ships exhaust their 20-30-year life span for voyage each year, and today, on the shores of Bangladesh, old oil tankers and container ships reincarnate as architecture in a much less romantic way than Le Corbusier envisioned—by the brute forces of market economy. As the world’s largest graveyard for unseaworthy vessels, the Chittagong Ship Breaking Yard employs over 200,000 Bangladeshis to dismantle over 60% of retired international ships per year. The scrap steel produced supports the infrastructure of the iron-poor Bangladesh, contributing to 50-80% of the country’s steel in construction. While ostensibly a “green industry,” shipbreaking poses such hazards to worker safety and the ocean environment that it is only economically viable in the poorest countries, led by Bangladesh, with the lowest regard for human lives and nature. Workers earn meager sums performing life threatening tasks risking explosions of oil tanks and falling hulk parts, while the wastes of the First World—mercury, oil and toxins—leak free on the Chittagong beach.

The other side of Bangladesh’s story is that it is the world’s sixth most densely populated country, with a housing problem chronically intertwined with annual flooding and displacement. Situated on the Ganges Delta with tributaries flowing into the Bay of Bengal, Bangladesh sees18% of its area flooded each  year, killing an average of 5,000 people and destroying more than 7 million homes—typically those of the poor on low lying flood plains. Floods destroy not only homes but also livelihoods, driving disaster victims including children to work in hazardous jobs—such as shipbreaking.

The irony of the cycle is apparent. Tonnes upon tonnes of steel—painstakingly recycled as re-bars in concrete buildings, cannot save the country from its recurring floods and mass displacements—steel that is dissected off ships in the first place. As the flotation ability of a ship exceeds its lifespan for voyage, I would like to examine the possibility of the adaptive re-use rather than destructive recycling of unseaworthy vessels to provide low cost, disaster resilient housing along the coastline for the Bangladesh people. As the (exploitative) ship breaking companies currently pays a mere 5 million USD for a typical old container ship (turning it into 10 million USD of steel), while the Bangladesh government’s spending on house financing programs and foreign aids for flood reconstruction are likely magnitudes higher, it is worth studying if the adaptation of old vessels to habitable use would provide a socially-fair, sustainable and humanitarian approach to resolving the situation in Bangladesh.

WHAT

The project aims to examine the feasibility of reusing unseaworthy ships with floatation abilities for housing, and the following aspects need to be researched or tested:

1. The coastlines, water depths around Bangladesh: would the coast that is ideal for ship breaking due to deep waters suddenly giving way to shallow beaches, be also ideal for accommodation hulks slightly offshore? Where best would ships be anchored?
2. Typical types of ships sent to Bangladesh for dismantling; the numbers of container ships, tankers, bulkers, car carriers, cruises, passenger ferries, etc; are some more suitable for adaptation to housing than others?
3. Current methodology of shipbreaking; structure of ships; what would affect the floatation ability of a ship? Should a ship have minimal demolition or can it be partially dismantled for reasons of design (lighting/ventilation)? Does the ship really need to float?
4. Issue of time: how long can a ship float and be safe for human use after  being deemed legally unseaworthy, ie unfit for voyage? How often does it need to be replaced with a “newly” retired ship? Would the site grow as more ships are added to the settlement?
5. Design of habitable housing: how can lighting/ventilation be achieved? How man people can a ship hold and how dense is ideal? Circulation: how do ships connect to shore and between each other? Community space? How to allow flexibility and replacement of ships?

HOW

1. Mapping of Bangladesh rivers and ocean waters to find ideal site, bathymetric information
2. Research statistics, plans, sections, and elevations of typical ships, and how they correspond to various ocean depths
3. Study of various ship structure- what is structurally indispensable and what is free to redesign
4. Research floatation life span of ships, design possible phases as ships are added, replaced and the number of inhabitants grow
5. Design lighting, ventilation, circulation etc for ships

Precedent studies:

Historical examples of prison hulks, accommodation hulks, hulks for schools and hospitals

Shipping container modular architectural design to inspire both above deck and below deck housing.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Theory and background research:

Le Corbusier. Toward an Architecture. Los Angeles, Calif.: Getty Research Institute, 2007.

Abdullah, Hasan Muhammad, M. Golam Mahboob, Mehmuna R. Banu, and Dursun Zafer Seker. “Monitoring the Drastic Growth of Ship Breaking Yards in Sitakunda: A Threat to the Coastal Environment of Bangladesh.” Environmental Monitoring and Assessment: 3839-851.

Sarraf, Maria, and Frank Stuer-Lauridsen. “Ship Breaking and Recycling Industry in Bangladesh and Pakistan.” World Bank Report (2010).

Zakaria, N. M. Golam, and K. A. Hossain. “Underlying Problems Of Ship Recycling Industries In Bangladesh And Way Forward.” Journal of Mechanical Engineering (2013).

Technical building methods:

Eyres, David J. Ship Construction. 6th ed. Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann, 2007..

Mikelis, Nikos E. “A Statistical Overview of Ship Recycling.” WMU Journal of Maritime Affairs: 227-39.

Sivaprasad, Kodungallur, and C. G. Nandakumar. “Design for Ship Recycling.” Ships and Offshore Structures: 214-23.

Taylor, D. A. Introduction to Marine Engineering. 2nd ed. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann, 1996.

Related projects:

Student projects:

Thesis about redesigning a ship for low-cost tourism:

Diaz, Daniel Hernandez. “Take up the Alexander- travelers hostels and Le Corbusier foundation.” Universidad Politécnica de Madrid. 

Thesis about reconstructing shipbreaking yard in London:

Schofield, Jonathan. “Creative Evolution- Silvertown Ship Breaking Yard.” University of Westminster London UK.

Professional projects:

Jones, Wes. “PROgram CONtainer system.” Debuted at the Hammer Museum in 1999.

Lot-ek. “Mobile Dwelling Unit.” Exhibited at Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, 1999.

Ban, Shigeru. “Onagawa Container Temporary Housing.” Onagawa, Miyagi, 2011.