Amphibious Architecture as a Resilient Solution for Flood-Prone Regions: Assessing Viability in Bangladesh's Seasonal Flood Zones

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6463-884-4_19How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Amphibious Architecture; Flood Resilience; Climate Adaptation; Resilient Housing; Climate Change

Abstract

Bangladesh, being completely of a low-lying landscape and extensive river systems, highly exposes its terrain to seasonal flooding that inundates roughly 25% of the lands in this country every year. This is an escalating threat which climate change and rapid urbanization are intensifying further. In this paper, we look at amphibious architecture as the resilient design solution for flood-prone areas and show how their applications have been executed in countries which are suffering similar hydrological challenges. Amphibious architecture gives buildings the ability to adapt to increased water levels through their buoyancy systems, which enable the building and structure to float during flooding yet rest on dry ground during normal conditions. In this way, it may foster flood resilience, livelihoods with water in a sustainable manner, and continued urban functionality in the face of climate change. The present study focuses on the Haor Basin, one of the most important yet ecologically vulnerable wetlands of northern Bangladesh. Three districts were selected considering the prominence of haor areas: Kishoreganj, Netrokona, and Sunamganj. The unique nature of this area, marked by proximity to water bodies, soil type, and flood frequency, makes it most suitable for amphibious architecture. This approach has a number of advantages, including minimizing flood damages, maintaining habitation continuously, and adapting to the fluctuating water level. This research reviews the feasibility of amphibious architecture in these selected districts, based on certain performance criteria like structural integrity, buoyancy, energy efficiency, and social acceptability. The results indicate that with proper design and choice of materials, amphibious structures could offer a feasible and sustainable solution for Bangladesh’s flood-prone areas. underlines the potential of amphibious architecture as one resilient design strategy for Bangladesh, a country most susceptible to climate change and disasters, and opens up ways in which innovation can occur.

Copyright

© 2025 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - S. Sarkar
AU  - H. Debnath
AU  - K. Karmaker
PY  - 2025
DA  - 2025/11/18
TI  - Amphibious Architecture as a Resilient Solution for Flood-Prone Regions: Assessing Viability in Bangladesh's Seasonal Flood Zones
BT  - Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Engineering Research, Innovation, and Education 2025 (ICERIE 2025)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 153
EP  - 161
SN  - 2352-5401
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6463-884-4_19
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6463-884-4_19
ID  - Sarkar2025
ER  -