Retrospecting Genocide- Awakening the Existence of Zinzira Bazar

Though still unrecognized globally as genocide, in 1971 around 3 million people were murdered by the Pakistani army and their local collaborators in Bangladesh. This is the price Bangladesh had to pay for its independence. The Pakistani militant systematically spirited people away, killed and dumped dead bodies in the killing site or separate mass graves. These killing sites, mass graves, and torture cells are disseminated around the country. Unfortunately, there was little documentation of these atrocities to case a file in the International Tribunal under genocide recognition. However, after independence, only a few major mass graves/ killing fields were conserved, protected, and recognized as historical sites. One of the most tragic operations run by the Pak militants was in Zinzira, Dhaka where 5000-7000 people were killed during a 6 hours long invasion. The massacre was primarily started from a fully functioning Bazar measuring 5.6 acres of land. Therefore, the concept of my project ‘Retrospecting Genocide- Awakening the Existence of Zinzira Bazar’ was to retain the memories of the massacre that happened in Zinzira. Moreover, this project is an effort to recognize a killing site, preserve its history for the next generations, and, contribution to the research program to achieve global recognition for Genocide 1971. While balancing the existing functions of the site which is a large-scale Bazar and, creating harmony between the subsisting programs and the history.

In this project, the task was to tie up this phenomenon with the existing function in a way that no single attribute deluges one another. The approach is based on the idea of ‘Neo-Contextuality’ which can be defined in 2 ways, large-scale considerations in an urban context and the co-relationship among several functions. Prioritizing the contextual and urban setting -the revival of the Bazar comes as a part of the total thought process where neighborhood engagement would highly be encouraged. In order to express the rendezvous, the project introduces a few new functions and withdraws its boundary to have access from all over the neighborhood, creating various types of facilities for the stakeholders, neighborhood, and beyond. The additional functions are- Mosque, Madrasa hostel, Library, Confectionary-Café, Movie Hall, Marketplace, Warehouse, Wholesale dock, and Boat Terminal.

One of the main functions is the gallery where, an experiential journey starts from a sunken plaza connecting the boat terminal which is Gallery 1- based on the idea of the prologue of our independence. Gallery 2 is placed under the traditional Bazar- based solely on the Zinzira Massacre. The third Gallery is a block from the Library and the experiential pathway connects the mosque and café terrace. The journey ends at a treed plaza that is a witness of the Zinzira Genocide. The boat terminal is designed to replace all three existing ‘Ghaat’ nearby the site in a way that still operates at the same location. The Bazar is introduced with some facilities to make it efficient. The marketplace is designed to have rentable shops along with a movie hall, rooftop café, and a terrace garden.