Talk with Marina Tabassum

On 4 October, CCA Tashkent hosted a talk with architect and educator Marina Tabassum, founder of Marina Tabassum Architects (MTA), ‘Locally Grounded: An Architectural Journey with Marina Tabassum’. Drawing on three decades of practice, Tabassum reflected on how architecture can remain deeply rooted in its context while engaging with a global architectural discourse.

From the geography and climate of Bangladesh to its material traditions, craft and communities, she spoke about the importance of understanding a place before building within it — and of recognising local knowledge as a source of architectural intelligence. Her projects demonstrate how this approach can translate into practice through the use of earth and brick, climate-responsive design and collaboration with local communities.

Throughout the talk, Tabassum returned to the relationship between place and time, exploring how architecture can respond to environmental and social conditions while remaining connected to its cultural context.