Green Field Factory wins RIBA prize: seven projects define Nakshabid

Dhaka-based Nakshabid Architects has won the 2026 RIBA International Prize for its Green Field Factory, a seven-storey rug factory in Rangpur that the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) honoured as the world's best new building outside the UK. The prize, announced last week, is only the fifth ever awarded in the biennial competition's history. For a 20-person studio working almost exclusively in Bangladesh, that's a signal moment — and a useful excuse to look at how the practice actually builds.

Founded by Bayejid Khondoker in 2003, Nakshabid concentrates its portfolio in Bangladesh, spanning residential blocks, mosques and museums, both public and private commissions. RIBA praised the winning factory for its passive design principles (building techniques that cut energy use through orientation, ventilation and shading rather than machines) and its prioritisation of employee wellbeing.

The studio reads the award as bigger than one building. "We see the prize as a recognition of what architecture from Bangladesh can contribute to global conversations on climate and the dignity of labour," the studio told Dezeen.

What drives the studio's design approach?

Nakshabid's stated method is context-first. "We believe that architecture must respond directly to its socio-ecological context, transforming ordinary programmes into meaningful collective experiences," the studio said.

"We approach every project as a shared undertaking, listening closely to the people who will use it, the climate it sits in and the building traditions around it before we draw," it continued. "In this way even the most functional programmes become places of gathering, where light, air, landscape and everyday social life are woven into the architecture itself."

That philosophy shows up consistently across seven key projects spanning 2017 to 2023.

Seven projects that map the practice

• Green Field Factory, Rangpur, 2017. The RIBA prize winner fronted by a monumental green facade. Informed by the traditional Bengali home, it uses natural ventilation and biophilic design (integration of greenery and nature into buildings) to dismantle workplace hierarchies.

• Aman Mosque, Narayanganj, 2018. A cubic concrete prayer hall set in a sunken circular courtyard. Two intersecting arches form an "invisible dome", and triangular perforations filter daylight into the solid volume.

• Shaptak Insignia, Dhaka, 2021. An apartment tower whose concrete facade, punctuated with square openings, limits heat gain and controls daylight. Two blocks hold 18 units on a 670-square-metre plot, each apartment with a balcony and stepped terrace.

• Urban Legacy, Dhaka, 2021. Two slender red-brick residential towers with a jagged form of cantilevered balconies enclosed by horizontal louvres. Greenery shades and cools the interiors. "Cascading vines and planters spill from every terrace and the brick-walled garden base, turning the building into a vertical green landscape," the studio said.

• Aman Cement Factory Mosque, Sirajganj, 2022. Also known as the Ullapara Mosque, built on cement-factory grounds for its workers. Two storeys of locally sourced brick, concrete and glass, with a tiered exterior behind an arched entrance, blend "tradition with modernity". "[The mosque] has become a place where factory workers and neighbours gather for prayer, social events and community life," the studio said.

Bangladesh Military Museum, Dhaka, 2022. A government-commissioned renovation conceived as a "vibrant civic destination". The curving concrete structure contains cafes, galleries, an amphitheatre and an arena sheltered by a 120-feet glass geodesic dome (a sphere-like frame of triangular panels).

Nurpur Graveyard, Rangpur, 2023. A Muslim graveyard doubling as a community leisure destination, with a healthcare facility and a madrasa (education space); a mosque is planned in future expansions. "Nurpur Graveyard is a place that diminishes the typical boundaries of graveyards," the studio said.

What does the prize change for Bangladeshi architecture?

In practical terms, it puts a Dhaka practice on the short list of firms clients consult for climate-responsive, socially driven design — the very conversations RIBA's citation highlighted. With the prize awarded biennially, Nakshabid now carries the label of "the world's best new building" until 2028, and its factory-worker mosque and graveyard-as-civic-space model offers a template for how Bangladesh's building culture exports itself.