Sajal Chowdhury
Doctor of Philosophy candidate
Architecture, Environmental Experience Design (EXD), Well-being
Biography
Sajal Chowdhury is a PhD Candidate in Architecture at the Melbourne School of Design (MSD), Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of Melbourne, Australia. He is awarded the prestigious 'PhD Graduate Research Scholarship' available to high-achieving students researching at the University of Melbourne. His research focuses on 'Environmental Experience Design (EXD)' based on the 'Human-Centered and User Experience (UX)' design philosophy that indicates a detailed understanding of people's experiences and their needs towards an environmental design solution.
Sajal is an architect, educator and writer in environmental architecture. He received B.Arch and M.Arch (research) degree from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and M.Eng (research) from Hokkaido University, Japan (as MEXT Scholar) on 'Human Thermal Environment, IEQ and Wellbeing'. He is 'Assistant Professor' at the Department of Architecture (DoA), Chittagong University of Engineering and Technology (CUET), Bangladesh. Sajal also served as 'Research Architect' at Green Architecture Cell (GrACe), BUET and 'Coordinator' of 'Environmental Lab' at DoA, CUET. He has expertise in various building environmental simulation tools and machine learning algorithms. Sajal has published several international journals, conferences and seminar papers on 'IEQ, Design and Wellbeing' issues. Sajal was an 'Editor' of 'e-Vision', a magazine of 'English Engineering Education (e3 community)', Hokkaido University, Japan and is an advisor of 'Atut-Bandhan'; the Bengali magazine of built environmental issues.
Sajal has won the 2016 Building Simulation Group award from 'The Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE)' for the application of advanced simulation techniques to evaluate heat stress in the tropical factory's indoor environment. He served as a sessional tutor (Environmental System) at MSD and is an active member of the 'ZEMCH-EXD' Network.
Thesis
Environmental Experience Design Framework for High Density Urban Housing of Middle Income Occupants in Bangladesh
Without a clear perception of occupants' domestic experiences, environmental design solutions in architectural design decisions may not enhance occupants' wellbeing. Therefore, pragmatic studies of domestic environmental experiences are needed to explore the 'Environmental Experiences Design (EXD)' framework for the middle-income occupants in Bangladesh who have socioeconomic constraints. This study's intended contribution is to propose an EXD methodological framework for occupants' wellbeing combining three factors - i.e., user context, spatial and environmental design parametric aspects in the high-density domestic environment. Thus, structuring the EXD framework contributes to systematising the architectural decision-making process as a tool and prioritising domestic environmental design components by evaluating occupants' psychological needs and wants through their household experiences which is the primary driving force conducting this research.
The complexities of exploring occupants' domestic experiences seem to be arguable even in global contexts. Although this methodological framework integrating machine learning algorithms focus on the middle-income occupants in Dhaka, Bangladesh, it may contribute to other architectural design domains locally and globally. Moreover, proposing the EXD framework through occupants' experiences can be utilised in the architectural design process to build a state-of-the-art housing development as well as retrofitting that may initiate improvements of occupants' mental wellbeing in high-density housing.